Fallen Angel, Concealed Goddess
by Spring of Inked Dreams
Summary: Sasuke Uchiha has no clear memories of his past before the death of his family. All he knows loneliness. He returns to his home seeking revenge. Instead, he finds 5 girls. And he begins to think that maybe he's searching for something else...
1. Home, Stranger

**Title: Fallen Angel; Concealed Goddess **

**Summary **(full)**:** **The key to restoration is the girl...restoration of the pride...avengence...memories...restoriation of the heart. Sasuke Uchiha has no clear memories of his past before the death of his entire family. The only thing he remembers is the bitter pain and lonliness while growing up after it. Now, he returns to his hometown in search of revenge. But instead of the murderer, he finds five girls. And as he begins to know them, he begins to realize that maybe, he's in search of something else...**

**Disclaimer:** **I obviously don't own Naruto, otherwise I'd be living in Japan and writing in Japanese, which I'm not. So, that's just too bad.**

**Prologue**

_"Listen closely child, for it is you and you only who holds this family's future as well as your own. You mustn't dwell upon the past but be attentive of everything before you at the moment and keep your dear ones embraced and within your reach. _

_"Seek the girl who lives and has lived two fates- for she can aid you in your journey. Two destinies converged to burden a single girl- the fallen angel who lies blanketed in times of sorrow, the concealed goddess who lives on by hopeful memories; she is the key to restoring and unlocking what you seek. _

_"But my son be cautious, for everything that you see clearly in your eyes, there are two of them. Everything visible and imaginable has two faces. Whichever one you choose is up to you. _

_"And to do that, you must learn all there is to know..._

_"About yourself..."_

**Chapter 1: Home; Stranger**

He walked down the sidewalk on the street.

Noise-filled, busy, excitement.

He wasn't sure whether or not it was the right direction to the high school, but he let his shoes continue to take the quiet, bounding steps and lead the way. His black hair swayed in the rush of the bustling town-goers, the spike in the back causing him to stand out slightly among the crowd. His height was average when compared to the other guys his age joking around as they walked past him, wearing the same summer school outfit as him: a light, white shirt with a pen pocket that had a swirl crest sewn on and dark brown pants.

People hurried past him both ways in crowded groups, but they were only black and white shadows to him. Everything was like a piece of a puzzle, and he was unable to make sense of them- how they fitted into his past. Unsure. Undefined. Unrecognizable.

Yet this place was home. The only home he had since his family had died. Where he grew up until he turned eight. This was where he once knew everyone and everything about the town, and ventured with joy- joy that he no longer remembered. But that didn't matter.

Because this was the place he was going to avenge his family. Find _those people _and get revenge for all he had suffered- loneliness, broken pride, and the past.

The teenage boy brushed off the flicker of pity he felt starting inside him like an annoying fly. He stopped at an opened metal gate that welcomed students with the sign: Konezuku High School.

He had found his way there.

There was no pride in him as he walked towards the path that stretched to the building. Red-tinged leaves, the sign of autumn's arrival, surrounded the path. Red...fire red...flames...

Flashback

_"Why?! WHY?!"A little boy's voice screamed._

_Flames engulfed the scene. Destroying, killing, torturing. Roaring and striking out into the air. _

_"I-I'm sorry, I had no choice." A choked voice replied, his own sorrow strangling him._

_A burst of red cut through the air, among blazing flames. This time, it wasn't fire._

_Everything went black._

End of Flashback.

His whole body stiffened, but nobody would've noticed. He ignored all the other students' gossip and conversations, not even attempting to fit in. They didn't matter. They were only normal teenagers.

They'd never gone through what he had.

On the corner of his eye, he noticed a pink-haired girl wearing the girl's school uniform- a forest green sweater vest with a short sleeved blouse underneath and a dark brown pleated skirt- get shoved by the shoulder from a passing boy racing his friend. The girl fell to the cement hard, her messenger bag flipped open and everything inside scattered around her.

He walked past her. She wasn't any of his business, and was a waste of time. Someone else would help her, and the guy who knocked her over would help her; he could waste his time. But the guy didn't, he run right past her without saying sorry. He didn't even acknowledge her.

He found himself looking back, and saw her scrambling to reorganize her things. No one stopped to help her.

When she reached towards a headband a careless student stepped right on it. Breaking the fragile accessory in two. The girl who walked over it simply continued talking and strolling towards the school.

It was like she never noticed. As if the headband was never there. As if the girl didn't exist.

She stayed sitting, with her hands gently cupping the trinket. Her deep, spring green eyes dulled with regret over her precious charm. The short pink hair hung, blocking most of her face. The headband that she used to hold her hair back had broken.

And suddenly, he had no clue what he was doing. He found himself bending down and rearranging the books and pencils for her. He stood up and held out his hand.

It was then 'till he saw what she was holding.

Flashback

_Music. Laughter. Stars above in the night sky. Lanterns lighted any shadowy areas. _

_"Here." A boyish voice said, hiding embarrassment._

_Everything was a blur. The girl's voice who answered belonged to a young child, who took the gift into her small hands, "Really? This is for me?"_

_"Yeah, I...uh...won, yea, won it in a stall. I don't need it."_

_"YAY! I love it! Thank you Sasu-chan!"_

_"H-hey, don't get the wrong idea. It's only because I don't want it."_

_"I don't care! I still love it!" The girl's voice giggled in joy as she wore the headband. It had three wires and jeweled pink cherry blossom flowers twined around them._

End of Flashback.

It was a headband. With three wires and jeweled pink cherry blossom flowers twined around them.

Shaken by the sudden vision, he mentally ignored, telling himself it meant nothing. _This girl means nothing, simply someone I am assisting right now. She'll get on with her useless life after this as if this never happened._

The girl accepted his hand and got up. She was still looking at her broken headband.

"I can fix it easily if you want." He found himself saying.

She looked up in surprise that he had talked to her. Her eyes showed sadness as she smiled at him, "It was a gift from someone dear. For now, it represents our friendship." Her voice was hollow.

The jeweled flower that was still connecting the two pieces of the headband snapped and fell to the ground. Now the headband was unfixable.

He said nothing. Partly because he was silently infuriated at himself for even bothering to help her and partly because he had nothing to say.

Luckily the girl spoke up first. Her head snapped up to look her helper in the face; her eyes back to life again. She gave a sheepish smile, "How rude of me, I let you help me and I didn't even ask for your name." She gave a small, polite laugh. "Haruno Sakura. Pleased to meet you!"

No doubt, he found the girl strange. She'd just completely changed personalities. But he decided not to question her any further. The last thing he needed was a girl in his way.

The first bell rang, warning the students to get moving to class. He walked off without saying goodbye to Sakura, leaving her behind.

However, when he reached the building and walked into the main office to grab his schedule, he heard the same cheerful, smooth voice.

"Ooh...Are you new then?"

He looked around and there she was, the same girl- Sakura- peering at his schedule. He quickly stuffed it into his school briefcase and walked off ignoring her. _There's something weird about her... I always notice people around me, so how come I didn't even see her behind me? Was she there the whole time?_

He forced himself to look behind him, although usually he could sense the presence of others without looking. She was still following him.

With her hands clasped behind her back, she tailed him walking with a small bounce in every step. "Hmm..." She thought out loud, putting a finger to her lip. "I wonder which teacher I'm gonna get."

She was the joyful, clueless type. He had already classified her as the type of person he hated the most. Yet, for some reason, he couldn't make himself tell her to leave him alone. Somehow, it seemed too harsh to him. But that was something he never gave a second thought to before.

"Look, why are you following me?" He asked her without looking back.

"I don't know." She chirped happily and smiled innocently, "I just feel like we could be great friends."

He stopped and stationed himself against the wall; right next the door with the sign above it: 307, 3A

"Hey! I have homeroom in here too!" Sakura looked excited about this and hopped into the room, "Hey, hey, can I show you around then?"

He said nothing and hung his head, avoiding her gaze.

"But at least let me know your name right?" She bent down to meet his eyes.

The second bell rang. All students had to be in their homerooms by now or they would be punished with after-school detention.

He sighed as she walked in and shut the door. But he found himself enjoying the girl's antics and cheerful personality. He realized that for those few short minutes, he completely forgot about his purpose here, and felt like a normal new guy.

But he wasn't normal. He was here for a reason. He was here to get revenge for his past. So what was he doing beginning to befriend a girl who knew nothing about pain?

He set his thoughts back to normal. Cold. Calm. Solitary. He didn't need friends. But somewhere in the back of his mind, he still couldn't help replaying the smile and laugh of the girl.

In the middle of the hallway where he stood alone, his voice echoed.

"Haruno Sakura, huh?"

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Students were all about the room. The boys were chatting about the latest video games, sports games, and some about porn. Some of the impatient ones skipped the catching up on their lives over the summer and began arm wrestling or playing paper football. The girls sat in groups by tables gossiping about the latest trends and celebrities and caught up over summer romance.

"...Oh the Max Combo? I totally could do that..."

"...Yeah...wasn't she hot?..."

"...Totally no! I mean, denim is soooo much better!..."

"...ohmygosh, I know! And then he..."

Only Sakura was the one not caught in the excitement of the start of a new school year. She only maintained a mild smile as she watched all the others with their friends. Although she sat close by a table were a few girls were small talking, no one bothered to invite her. In fact, no one even bothered to look at her to wonder why she was sitting there alone.

Seconds seemed like hours to her- even though she didn't show it- as the red hand rotated around the clock. The teacher was late.

Finally, after ten minutes, the door slid open and a silver haired teacher walked in and set his briefcase onto the desk.

He called out, "Okay...okay, back to your seats everyone...For those of you that haven't had me before, I'm Hatake Kakashi, Hatake-sensei to all of you." his tone made it seem like he didn't really care for teaching.

But everyone immediately sat down. They all have heard of this teacher if they didn't have him before. Rumors, no, facts had it that he seemed easy going but he was actually incredibly strict and quick to give unusual punishments.

After he finished attendance, he announced. "Okay, now that we're starting a new year, I expect all of you to try your best this year...despite some of your past records." He gave a weary eye at a certain blonde, blue-eyed boy. "I'm not going to say all the other crap I'm required to say, since none of you are going to listen. So...we have a transfer student from the Fushichou district." He began writing down the katakana on the chalkboard while calling out, "Come on in."

Like always, everyone was interested in new students. All the attention was directed towards the door, as they saw a tall boy with raven hair spiked up in the back walk in.

"Class, this is Uchiha Sasuke. I hope all of you get along well with him and help him find his way around here, so on and so forth...Hmm..." He looked around the classroom for an open seat.

It took a while however; it appeared he couldn't find one. But Sasuke could see an open seat perfectly: right at the left of Sakura. And he saw her smiling and waving at him excitedly, yet the teacher never noticed.

He was scared if he pointed out there was an open seat right next to Sakura, people would look at him like he was stupid. Somehow...he was starting to wonder if the girl was part of his imagination. That in reality, there was no one sitting next to the seat.

Sakura stopped waving after a few minutes and put her hand down; a shadow came over her face when she realized no one was noticing her. When suddenly she spoke out in a hollow voice, "Sensei, there's an empty seat next to me."

The teacher's head turned towards her surprised, as if he had never noticed her before. "Ahem, well uh...Uchiha-san, there's a seat next to uh...Haruno-san right there."

Sasuke made his way over to the seat, ignoring the guy's approving looks for athleticism and the girl's flirtatious giggles. He saw only her, forgetting all that he had told himself alone in the hall before.

Her eyes down in a resigned look, in a way, she seemed exhausted after speaking up. It was as if she had never stuck up for herself before.

He sat down and allowed the lecture to begin, but found himself looking at Sakura. She seemed like an outgoing girl. But despite that, she was mysterious. She could disappear and yet no one realized she was gone. She never made herself known.

She seemed unaware as she took fast notes and paid close attention to the teacher. Her pink hair blocking her forehead and her green eyes sharp with life...

Flashback

_Blurs of scenes. _

_A lively smile. _

_A beloved smile. _

_A smile he wished to see forever._

_Bubblegum pink hair, blowing in the wind._

_Innocent, friendly eyes ready for fun._

_"Sasu-chan!" _

_Bouncy voice full of excitement._

_"Sasu-chan!" _

_..._

End of Flashback

"Uchiha-kun?"

"Uchiha-kun?"

A more mature, female voice brought him back.

He looked up with his dark eyes and saw himself looking into the curious face of Sakura.

She flashed him a bright smile, "Lunch time!"

Happy to be able to hang out with Sasuke, she rushed to the door just as he got up and started putting his stuff back into his briefcase. She waved, "Come on!"

He followed her, not sure why he was doing this. But it didn't seem to bother her that he wasn't really smiling as she gracefully and agilely weaved past the wave of students in the hall and to her locker.

He left her to organize and put her stuff back into her locker and went to his. Quick to be able to put his books back, he turned to see that she was done too, but instead was facing her open locker in a trance.

Walking over, he saw that her locker was filled with pictures and bulletin boards. But she was staring at the collection of headbands and ribbons.

He gave a small cough, snapping her out of her day-dream mode.

She smiled faintly, as if she had just received a disappointing vision. "Oh. I started collecting them when my friend gave me my first one."

But then it was like she thought of something happy and gave a bright smile, "So, which one should I wear now?"

Sasuke felt a strange heat in his face and quickly regained control it. His surprised expression was molded into the same expressionless face in a flash that Sakura didn't notice it as she waited for his response.

"Why should it matter to you?" He found a stutter in his voice, a tinge of unsure-ness. Something he never had a problem with before. _What the hell's wrong with me?_

She looked at him a giggled, "Of course it matters! I always used to ask my friend this!"

_Nobody said we were friends...since when was that established? _But he replied anyway, "The white and pink cherry blossom ribbon." And walked off feeling embarrassed.

She tied it on and ran after him. The two went outside and sat underneath a tree to eat lunch. Sasuke took out a bento box of onigiri and a bottle of tomato juice.

Sakura took a peek at his lunch and said in wonder, "Wow! You really like onigiri!"

He ignored this and started eating. Sakura took out her lunch, starting with sour raspberry jam roll.

"NO! I AM NOT GOING TO WATCH CLOUDS AGAIN!!" A guy's voice yelled.

The holler belonged to the blonde in Sasuke's homeroom. He was running right past him and Sakura. But instead of avoiding Sakura, he tripped right over her, causing her to knock all her lunch over into the grass.

Sakura didn't say a thing. The same shadowed look appeared on her face as the other guy ran along like nothing happened.

Sasuke made a cough that stopped the boy. And as if he'd seen her for the first time, he said obnoxiously. "Whoops... Hehe, did I knock that over?"

Sakura looked up in surprise, looking the boy in the face as he knelt down.

The guy looked at her like he was studying something, "Hmm...are you new?"

She shook her head, "Haruno Sakura, class 3A."

He looked surprised, "Hey! That's my homeroom too! I never noticed you!"

_Just like everyone else. _Sasuke watched the two from afar.

"Uzumaki..." Another guy caught up to him in an annoyed tone, "How many times did I tell you not to ruin my concentration while studying?"

"104 times and counting." Another guy yawned. He walked over and lay down randomly to look at the clouds. His dark eyes gazed enviously at the sky and his spiked ponytail was flat against the grass.

The other guy, with long black hair and cloud white eyes, sighed and introduced himself as well as his idiot friends. Offering his hand to Sasuke, he said, "Hyuuga Neji of 4A, these dorks are Nara Shikamaru and Uzumaki Naruto."

Sasuke purposely ignored him and reached into his paper bag to hand Sakura a bowl containing jelly. She looked at it curiously and peeled off the lid, only to have her eyes light up when she realized what it was.

"Sakura sundae anmitsu!" She exclaimed happily. "How did you know I liked it?"

"It came along with the package. I hate sweet things." He shrugged it off. But somehow, he had a feeling she would've really liked it. Somewhere far back in his mind. _No way, I've never met her before. _He told himself.

Neji looked over to her like he had just noticed her and asked, "He knocked over your lunch didn't he?"

"Great job Naruto, not only do you ruin my life, but now her's too?"

"Hey, I said sorry? Right? Right? See, I even know her name! It's Sakura-chan!" Naruto looked at her for help.

Sakura never had so much attention at once before and smiled shyly, "Yes."

"Whatever. At least I can have a better cloud-watching partner."

"Don't take me for granted. I wasted two whole year's worth of lunchtime watching damn white things in the air!"

"Hey, Haruno, do you yell a lot?"

She didn't know what to say. It was the first time she had so many things said to her and about her at once. So she didn't know how to respond. Instead, she looked down at the ground.

"See? She's better than you already."

The two continued to have their friendly fight while Neji hung out with Sasuke.

"So you're the rumored new kid." He said while finishing up his college-level Calculus workbook.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Neji raised an eyebrow in sudden interest. _Uchiha?_ But instead he continued on solving the problems.

"It's 2x squared y cubed over 7z to the fifth power plus 18." Sasuke interrupted.

Neji shrugged, hiding his annoyance at being beaten by a 3rd year student. A group of girls passed along and giggled, waving at the two. Neji ignored them. Sasuke followed his lead.

"You get used to it."

He brought up another subject, "Since today's a Wednesday and I have nothing to do, would you like me to show you around?" Shutting his book he continued, "I assume you might need help fitting in this place." _Then of course...if you can remember this place from nine years back in the past...it should be no problem._

That did it for Sasuke. He coldly stood up and walked away. Leaving Sakura and her new friends alone.

"I don't need any help."

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The rest of the afternoon was spent in his own frustration and confusion. He literally had to keep checking every few seconds to make sure his eyes weren't wandering to Sakura. And that was what made him angrier with himself.

He was becoming like a normal guy. What happened to taking revenge? Where was his pride? He didn't need friends, not ever, and not now. He had lived without a single friend or family member for nine years, and he absolutely had no regret over it.

None.

So what was going on?

Flashback

_"You must learn all there is to know about yourself..."_

End of Flashback.

_Damn it! I know myself fine. _He knew everything there was to know about himself. He was Sasuke Uchiha, the last Uchiha living.

He was here for revenge.

Not friends.

Not help.

Not love.

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He walked in a faster pace than usual out of the building. He needed to get away from that place and everyone in it.

Especially her.

But Sakura still followed him as he threaded through people in the city to get to his house. He had to look back to notice her tailing him.

"Don't you have anyone else to bother?"

She didn't seem hurt by this and simply answered in a chirpy voice, "Nope!" And skipped along side of him. "Plus, I wouldn't call it bothering. I'd call it; hanging out!"

She jumped in front of him and walked on, "My house is this way too!"

He walked faster at a speed she couldn't catch up to walking, "I don't need company or help."

"I never said you did!" She smiled as they arrived at a street crossing. "I just wanted to get to know you better. For some reason, I think we should really be friends. Hey, is onigiri your favorite food?"

He ignored the red, flashing stop sign in impatience to get away from her. She followed him, trying to catch up.

When he reached the other side he was standing in front of a large, wired gate that guarded what was once a large house. The building was ruined though, all the wood was burnt and the pretty walls were bashed. Whoever once lived there also grew a garden full of cherry blossom trees as well as many other flowers, but they were all dried and shriveled, colorless like the rest of their surroundings. He could even see the once-polished wood floor, which was now covered in dulled blood.

He looked behind him, checking to see her reaction and expecting an explanation, but Sakura was still in the middle of the road, staring at the broken down house. And the sign was still flashing red.

Cars beeped as they drove by quickly from the other lane, warning her to move. But she couldn't hear them. Her eyes were wide and her irises turned ice green, shaking with fear. She was shivering with her knees bent, hugging herself. One look at her and he could tell she was seeing something equivalent to hell.

A car beeped and was driving quickly at her.

She wasn't moving.

He sprinted towards her.

* * *

A/N: Hmm...I'm going to be putting my comments, or afterword here at the end. I actually, suggest you read this section, since I'll be putting some of the vocab up here (I think you noticed I used some exessive Japanese...teehee) But I'll make you guys read my dedications first:

To my editor Michelle, who I can never give enough credit for sticking although with me, despite my impatience and rashness. You'll see her pop up here all the time, and you'll be grateful for her too, otherwise this whole thing would be a mess of mispellings and grammar issues.

And to anybody who comments and reads this fanfiction first!! I'll LOVE YOU!! Seriously, comment, otherwise I'll get unmotivated...:(

Vocab:

Konezuku- A highschool name I made up. Ko means leaves, and nezuku means to nurture or grow.

Onigiri- Rice balls

Amnitsu- Jelly-stuff...that's sweet. (yummies)

Characters:

I'll explain them and how I came to use them...but I don't think you'll need an introduction. But I've tweaked some of their personalities.

Sasuke- Our main character. He's new to the town of Konoha. And yeah, his cold personality and his little thing for revenge hasn't changed.

Sakura- Our heroine. She's lived in Konoha for a while, but she is unnoticed to others, with an exception of Sasuke. Yes, she's taken an attachment to him (as a friend). I've changed her personality slightly to make her innocent, bubbly, and a bit cute.

Naruto- Yes, he hasn't changed. He's still an idiot.

Shikamaru- Still as lazy as ever.

Neji- One year older and a genius. His family right now is the most powerful in the town, after the Uchiha family was exterminated. He hasn't changed much either.

Kakashi- Yes, he's a teacher now, and still has odd teaching methods.

Oh yes, and before I finish, I'd like to mention that this fanfiction was inspired by the following anime/manga series: Naruto, AIR, Kanon, Clannad, H20: Footprints in the Sand, Myself;Yourself


	2. Key, Friend

**Chapter 2: Key; Friend**

The second school bell rang, but nobody in class 3A was planning to sit down, Hakate-sensei was late again.

The door slid open and someone walked in. Girls at a nearby table waved and the shyer ones giggled, but he ignored them.

Naruto was the first to greet him, "Yo Sasuke! What happened yesterday? We heard you and Sakura got into an accident?" He looked back at Shikamaru, "That's what we heard, right Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru tilted back his chair and set his feet on his desk, ready for a nap. He opened an eye and said, "Whatever." But the one eye he had opened showed curiosity.

Sasuke brushed past him to get to his seat and got out his books.

Naruto wasn't ready to give up yet, "No, seriously? Did you really save her? And why wasn't she moving when the cars beeped?"

That was what he wanted to know. Why didn't she move? _It was something about that house. She remembered something. _He could sense it. And whatever she saw, it must have been horrifying.

"Com'on Sasuke, tell us!"

He didn't answer.

"Hah! Bet it didn't happen! No way someone as lame as you could save her! Too bad I wasn't there to _really _save her!"

He clenched his fist underneath the desk so that Naruto wouldn't see. Shikamaru saw this and saved him, "Naruto, feel lucky you weren't there, or we would've lost two lives instead of just one injury."

Naruto started to argue with Shikamaru again, insulting him in everyway he could.

_He's right though. I couldn't really save her. In the end, she was still hurt. What's wrong with me now? Why am I suddenly so..._

_Weak?_

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It seemed quiet without anyone to fill in the silence in between class breaks. But Sasuke didn't want to admit it to even himself. He hated to think that he couldn't handle being alone anymore, only after a day of being harassed by a girl.

By biology, he was losing all his attention. The only reason why he was taking notes so carefully and precisely was that in his unconsciousness, he felt the need to make sure Sakura didn't miss a lesson when she returned. But even though he told himself she was nobody all the time, he found himself doing it anyway.

He started staring at the clock, 20 minutes and 39 seconds until lunch...

"Uchiha-san."

"Hai." He answered, snapping out of it.

"Please give us a brief overview of last night's text."

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Finally, it was lunch. But Sasuke had nothing to look forward to there either. _No, I never had anything to look forward to, not even yesterday._ He told himself, but his mind still wavered.

He swapped his books for his lunch at his locker and headed outside. But instead of going towards Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji by the tree, he decided to sit alone at the top of the building.

He sat against the wire fence and opened a prepackaged bento of onigiri. But before he took a bite, he called out. "I don't enjoy being followed."

A quiet "whoops" whispered and a girl with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail with sky blue eyes walked up from hiding behind the staircase door.

Sasuke looked at her for a moment and then continued eating his onigiri.

The girl seemed a bit stumped by his rudeness but wasn't about to give up, "So...you're Uchiha Sasuke-kun!" She gave a smile, "I've heard a lot of great things about you!"

She walked over and joined him. Sasuke expected that most guys would've died to have her sit next to them, but he didn't really find anything special about her. "I'm Yamanaka Ino." She offered a handshake but he gave her a look.

"What's the point? You already know my name."

She looked around, "Hey, what about that girl that was following you around yesterday?"

Now she got his attention. _She noticed her without an introduction! But how...?_ She didn't look and act any different than the other students. In fact, she seemed like the person to never notice Sakura at all. With her use of dark mascara and flirty lip gloss, she appeared to be one of the highly popular, gossip girls who would be too busy living the life a dramatic high school (life-wasting, as Sasuke would add on) romance to notice a girl like Sakura.

"You noticed?"

"Of course, I notice a lot of things." She smiled. "It was cool how you rescued her. You must be really brave." She flashed him another winning smile.

He didn't fall for it, "Where did you hear that?" He was going to kill whoever started it. Even if it was true.

She shrugged, "You know, rumors get around fast in the school."

_Damn the rumors._

"Well...Are you going to visit her?"

He could sense the eagerness to know in her voice, "Why would I?"

He saw her brightened up at his answer, but she stayed relatively calm. "I don't know...I mean, she seemed like a close friend. I could give you her address if you want; all I have to do is look it up."

He felt something snap inside of him. He was ashamed that he wanted to actually visit her. _Damn it! This is so stupid! What the hell am I thinking?! _

"No, she's not a friend. She's nobody." And he walked off.

He was unable to see the small, victorious smile on Ino's face. But she quickly wiped it off in disgust at herself, as if reminding herself something.

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_A girl he doesn't know walks out of a toy shop, with a music box in her hand. She opens it, a bell-like sound chimes a beautiful tune- a ballerina's melody- and a small fairy_ _spins in circles. The box was adorned with crystal cherry blossoms and sparkling vines, and the side held locks for two keys._

_**Why do I clearly remember that thing?**_

_But one key slips into a small crevice of a tree stump root, and a dog runs over to burry it even deeper. _

_She cries and he reassures her, "I'll get it for you, I promise, so don't cry!" Seeing her so miserable made him sad._

_She stops and looks at him with grateful, big, tear filled eyes as he started to spend hours digging and pawing at the rough dirt. It was sunset when he finally retrieved it._

_Ignoring his torn fingernails, scratched hands, and dirt covered face, he smiled, "I got it!" _

_In his hand was a necklace holding a small gold key._

_**I've seen that before!**_

_The girl's eyes brighten a look that made him feel proud of himself... She hugged him, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"_

_**Who are you?**_

_He was flustered, "Oi, hey, hey. I don't even know you're name yet, and you're hugging me!"_

_She automatically drew back and blushed, ", I'm ."_

_**Why can't I remember your name?**_

_He grinned and replied. "Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke. Let's start off by being friends first, okay?_

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His alarm clock woke him up earlier than it was supposed to. It was only 4am. _Goddamned clock, _he might've been ableto find out who that girl was if the stupid thing hadn't set off.

Instead of just getting up and jogging like he always did, he stayed in bed pondering. His thoughts were on the girl in his dreams, and Sakura.

Who is she? Why don't I remember her? How important was she to me back then? Why does she keep coming up?

_Sakura...is she her?_

_No. _He told himself firmly. Now he was being delusional. He knew he was trying to find an excuse to still hang out with her, and hated himself for his own motive. _Look how low you're falling, killing your pride._

He was here to regain everything. Sakura was getting in his way. HE should ignore her, like everyone else. Then everything would go back to normal, including himself.

She was nobody.

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He walked to school alone that day and felt somewhat unguarded, with all the girls giggling at him. This time, he had no one to keep his mind off of how much he was being watched.

_Why does it matter? They're just normal kids, who know nothing. I'm not one of them. I'm different. _He told himself to snap out of it. Right now, he had bigger things to worry about.

Like how he was going to avoid Naruto's big talk about the accident.

"Sasuke!"

Sasuke flinched inwardly at his obnoxious voice. _Why must he be so annoying?_

He quickly made up a string of excuses in his head to shield himself.

"I challenge you to an arm wrestling match!"

"Huh?" This wasn't what he was expecting from Naruto

"He's on a rebellious strike; he refuses to cloud-watch with me, so now he's killing time by doing this." Shikamaru lazily explained.

_Wait, why isn't Naruto mentioning the accident all of a sudden? He called me 21 times yesterday about it._

"Oh yeah? Well didn't you just get a better partner yesterday?"

And wasn't Sakura his new cloud partner?

Shikamaru looked confused, "Funny, that's what I thought, but when I think about it, it's only been you."

"We must be really off today then, 'cuz I knew I had something about someone to bother Sasuke, but I can't remember what..."

_What's going on? They just met her yesterday, how could they forget? Why does this happen with her?_

"Okay, time to get to your seats class..." Hakate-sensei walked in, 10 minutes late like yesterday.

But the class was in a chatty mood even in their assigned seats. The teacher had a glint in his eyes as he threatened, "Quiet, I'm doing attendance...unless you want a detention with me."

That silenced everyone. Kakashi went through the list and then looked up, "Looks like nobody's absent."

Nobody said anything about it, but there was an empty seat next to Sasuke. He missed Sakura's name, but he didn't want to mention it. That would seem like he cared too much about her. But still, he wondered what was going on.

_**"Unless you accept existence in his heart, she will remain forgotten to the world..."**_

His mother's voice was in his head now, but he couldn't believe what he just heard. It was impossible; this wasn't some sort of fairytale.

_**"Only you control her existence."**_

He was not knight in shining armor, she was never the princess.

_Why do I remember some stupid fairytale? _

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At lunchtime, he decided to go sit with Naruto, Shikamaru, and Neji. All three proved to have had their memory of Sakura blurred. They seemed confused every time they came to a subject that was supposed to include Sakura, feeling like they've forgotten something. But Sasuke didn't speak up. It was that same fear of the possibility that Sakura was only a hallucination.

Plus, he had promised himself. She had nothing to do with him.

Ino skipped along, trying to join the conversation that Sasuke wasn't paying attention to. "Yooooo! Watcha up to?" She winked at Sasuke.

Shikamaru groaned, "Oh god, it's the monster that kills eardrums!" He clamped his ears from her high voice.

Neji sighed inwardly and automatically shut up; he knew how Ino could blab off rumors everywhere to anyone.

"No." Naruto said bluntly, even if Ino didn't ask him anything yet.

Ino flipped her ponytail and looked at him annoyed, "No what?"

"You can't hang out with us; we can't have girls in our chats." Naruto answered simply.

She flicked her blue eyes at him, even more irritated by his response as she slid closer to Sasuke, "What? It's not like I've never heard about porn before."

"Oh, I can definitely believe that." Shikamaru lied down and muttered.

Ino slapped him by the head.

"It just...de-manifizes us!" Naruto explained.

Ino laughed in a high-pitch, "That's hilarious! You're kidding, right?"

"Anyway, back to the point. We never have had any girls in our gang and never will."

Ino argued, "Yes you have! Just yesterday, she was with you guys!"

Sasuke looked at her for the first time since yesterday, surprised. _She still remembers her! _

"Yeah right."

"Yeah! Her name...it was...um..." Ino began to get that confused look on her face everyone else was.

Sasuke realized she also could remember Sakura correctly, only just a bit more than others.

_**"Only your acceptance can control her existence."**_

No. No way.

He walked away without thinking. Hanging out with the others only made him think more about her.

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History was Sasuke's last class, and yet again, the teacher missed Sakura's absence.

"And as you can see here, the Edo period..."

"Iruka-Sensei!" Naruto raised his hand.

"Yes Uzumaki-san?" The he asked, clearly surprised Naruto was paying close enough attention to ask a question.

A couple of the students knew that Naruto was off to no good and sniggered at their teacher's stupidity.

"May I use the bathroom?"

He sighed, "Yes...But Sasuke has to go with you." He wasn't going to take any chances with Naruto.

Naruto didn't seem bothered by this and began dramatizing, "Okie-dokie then! Come on Sasuke; let's hold hands just in case a monster gets us! Iruka-sensei doesn't want that does he? And then, you have to help me go tinkle tinkle!"

The class stifled their laughter while Iruka glared at them as they walked out the door.

The moment the door was shut, Naruto whispered. "Here's your chance to see the great Naruto Uzumaki in action."

Sasuke definitely did not want to waste his time with this. Especially if it meant giving his family a bad name by failing in school. He started to walk back to class.

"Woah woah! Hey! I know you're going to tell on me, but can you wait _after_ I'm done blowing up the toilet?" Naruto called out.

"I'm not going to tattle-tale like a loser, if that's what you're asking." Sasuke stopped and turned around, "I'm just not going to waste my time with an idiot like you."

Naruto snorted, "You're just going to waste more of your time in class."

"Whatever do what you want and be a loser. You don't know anything about life." Sasuke shrugged, his face dark, and he walked off.

"I know that you've definitely been through some rough times. And I know enough about life to say that it's too short to become perfect."

Sasuke stopped to listen.

Naruto continued, "So why should I be miserable trying to be perfect when I can make my life enjoyable? You can never be happy when you're perfect. Try having some fun for a change."

"No. You know nothing about me." Sasuke shook in anger and stormed away.

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11:00 pm. whatever, it was Saturday tomorrow anyway. He was still awake, lying down on his back and staring at the ceiling. But instead of thinking of nothing, he was thinking of a lot of things.

**_"I know that you've definitely been through some rough times"_**

Just thinking about what he said made Sasuke clench his fists. _He knows __**nothing**__!_

Nothing.

Nothing about having his family murdered.

Nothing at all.

_**"Try having some fun for a change."**_

Fun? How could he have fun? He had been alone for years, without anybody to care for him. Fun was something he couldn't have. It wasn't going to help him get revenge.

Revenge was what was going to let him enjoy his life.

Not Sakura.

Definitely not her.

He fell asleep thinking so much, he lost track of his thoughts and his mind went blank.

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

_"Mommy! I want a story! I can't sleep!" He walked into the living room where his mother sat on the sofa knitting._

_She held him in her lap, "Which story?"_

_"Ninja! Ninja!" The little boy demanded._

_She smiled gently, "How about a new story?"_

_He nodded excitedly._

_"It's a tale that has been carried down in our family for a long time. It's about a goddess." _

_"Is she nice?" He asked curiously._

_"Oh yes. Very nice. In fact, she's the goddess that the legend said will someday save our clan. " _

_His eyes widened, "From what?"_

_His mother continued, "She can grant whatever you are in search for. But she has a curse. Concealed as an ordinary girl, she burdens two souls: a concealed goddess with hope even through the darkness, and a fallen angel that holds all sadness."_

_"But mommy, how can she be two things at once?"_

_"Oh, but everyone has two souls. You just have to look deep inside yourself, and decide which soul you chose to see with."_

_"Her curse is that her feelings must be hidden, and her existence is concealed. Only the person she is fated to help can control her existence by accepting her place in his heart. If he refuses to acknowledge her significance, she will start to disappear."_

_Four-year-old Sasuke gasped in sympathy._

_"But the two go long back, to the time before the girl was either goddess or angel and he will not be able to rid her from his mind. She will become a dear one to him, although he won't admit it till the end. But even if the two may grow close, once that person does not need her, she returns to the fallen angel she once was before."_

_"But he gets what he finds, right? That's happy!" Sasuke insisted._

_His mother smiled sadly, "Everything has two sides."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

White blankness. It took Sasuke a moment to realize he was awake and staring at the ceiling. He got up, not bothering to pull the curtains; he liked it better dark.

It was as if the memory had exhausted him, for he wasn't thinking about anything as he brushed and showered. Only when he washed his face 'till he said out loud, "A tale passed down the clan for years, huh?"

He made his decision. After making his bed, he went to the phone in the counter and dialed.

It only took one ring. "Hello?" A girl's voice answered.

"I need directions to Haruno's place."

He hung up and started to walk past the living room to his room again. But he stopped at the fireplace, where sitting on the top shelf were pictures of his family- when they were still alive.

But he looked at his mother's single picture; next to it were her favorite candles, knitting needles, and keepsake box. There was also something else- a book of tales.

Sasuke flipped it open, ignoring the stains of blood- he was already used to that. There was no story titled with an angel or goddess.

_Seek the cursed girl who lives and lived two fates- for she can aid you in your journey._

Although it was just a story, it was what his mother's last words were about. This was his mother's will

The mother he had lived without for years.

The mother who loved and left him.

The mother who passed this down to him. He was going to let her live by finding the girl.

_This is for you and you only._ He silently vowed to the photograph of his smiling mother. _She could be the girl I use to get what I want. So I must stay with her. _And that will be the reason for his meetings with Sakura. Merely just an item, a key to unlock what he needs. That was what she was.

_**"Have some fun in your life."**_

No. This was not for himself. He did not need friendship, he was never lonely. Never had he shed a tear since that day for anything.

Sasuke denied it all inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He dressed himself in a plain, navy blue polo and simple white shorts, despite the fact that it was winter already. Realizing that he was out of onigiri and tomato juice, he went downtown to buy some.

As it turned out, he had bought all of the market's stock of onigiri and anything tomato two days ago. So he was going to have to have something different today.

As he went down the aisles for something that looked appealing to him, he found sweet toast bread. Getting a bag for Sakura, he got himself slices of sugar-free sticky rice cake.

_This is only to gain her trust so she can help me._ He told himself. Although he knew she like amnitsu, he had a feeling she'd like something sweet like what he bought her.

He met up with Ino at a magazine stall one block down. She was reading the new issue of a fashion magazine. She saw him and immediately put it down.

"Morning, Sasuke-kun!"

He only nodded his greeting and replied with, "Don't call me by first name."

She pouted teasingly, "Why not?"

He was planning to say: _Because only people who are friends do that. And I don't have nor want any. _Surprisingly enough to himself, he didn't want to seem harsh and only endured her flirty chatter as she led the way.

Sakura's place was a tiny cottage that was caught between both the edge of the forest and city. The building was small compared to Sasuke's huge apartment as would've stood out against the towering structures if located downtown or neighborhoods.

Ino double-checked her directions when she saw their destination's appearance and saw that she was right. She hesitated and said; "Well, here you are..."

Sasuke walked onward without a word of thanks, leaving Ino standing behind. He no longer noticed her behind him.

She sniffed her feet as he rung the door, for once; she had no clue what to say. She uncertainly called out to him, "Um...well, I've got to go now. Sorta busy...so yeah, see ya." She ran off appearing to be in a rush; popular people are always expected to have tight schedules.

If Sasuke had heard her, he made no motion to show it. However, if he looked back, he would've saw Ino run off and, instead of back to the city to meet up with friends, hide behind a stone wall nearby, loathing herself to have to save herself from choking in jealousy.

Nobody answered the door when he rung the bell. After waiting for a minute, he knocked and walked in. "Hello?"

"I'm here." He heard her voice upstairs.

The staircase was small, and the whole house seemed fragile, so he carefully walked up towards the steps. In a small room, Sakura sat up in her bed.

She had the same distant look as before, except this time it didn't seem frightened, it was nostalgic. Her eyes were dulled in memory and her face was slightly blushing as she stared at Sasuke at the door like a long lost brother. She tightly clutched something in two hands, pressing it to her chest like it was precious to her heart.

"Ahem." Sasuke coughed to break the uncomfortable moment. He knew Sakura was thinking about something, but her gaze embarrassed him. "Are you okay?"

She snapped out of it and looked at him with the normal energetic eyes. She laughed sheepishly and awkwardly, "Ahaha...sorry about that. I was acting weird and all."

He observed her closely as he saw her clumsily throw the thing in her hand in a keepsake box. But he was only able to catch a glimpse of the flash of sparkling pink. There was also something else in her eyes as she did it. _Sadness?_

Flashback

_He was finished painting his key and dangled it in front of the girl, "I'm done with mine!"_

_She smiled lively, "Me too! See?" She bent over the table to show him a key painted in pale pink and decorated in sparkly flowers._

End of Flashback

He frowned. _What does that girl have to do with the girl in the story? Or is she just a random friend from my past?_

He heard Sakura's stomach growl.

She guiltily laughed when he looked at her, "Ahaha...I forgot to eat today..."

He sighed at her and pulled out the bread. "Here."

She shook her head fast and insisted, "No, no, no! It's okay; I've got snacks in the drawer..." She pulled the drawer and realized there were only leftover wrappers, "Umo..." Now she was speechless.

In the end, she was forced to eat the bread. Even though she tried to seem upset about it and hate it, Sasuke could easily tell that she liked it.

When she finished it, she looked like she was about to lick her fingers, but she caught herself and said in an obvious fake voice, "Blegh."

"You liked it." He simply stated.

She dropped the act, "Aw...how did you tell?"

"It's too obvious." He could tell from her eyes. There was something in his mind that could read what she was thinking by just the mere glow in the green.

The two were silent for a while and then Sakura asked, "Are you getting around well here?"

"I'm getting used to it."

"I'm glad then." She smiled, seeming genuinely happy for him.

"I got notes for you on biology, math, and language arts." He handed his notebooks to her.

She looked at him with grateful eyes, "Thank you!" The look on her face made him feel like he wished he did more for her, but he denied it.

But her eyes had a look in them that he noticed. She was hiding something from him.

"You need something else." He stated, knowing it without asking her.

She squirmed, "Ah...no, no, of course not!"

He recalled Naruto said that there was an assignment in art and Shikamaru said that there was a project in writer's workshop. Sakura was in both their classes.

"I'll call Naruto and Shikamaru for them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was like the two suddenly remembered everything they did with Sakura when Sasuke mentioned her name on cell phone. Naruto insisted to go over and help her (although Sasuke was aware that he probably needed help himself) and convinced-or harassed- Shikamaru into going with him.

The four spent the whole day at Sakura's, not minding their Saturday being spent inside. Naruto ended up being assisted by Sakura in the art project, and Shikamaru watched clouds and gave Sakura bits of tips on writing her book essay. Sasuke joined in too, but slightly conscious about the whole thing.

_Those two have really only hung out with her for a day, and yet, _he thought in wonder, _they seem like they're best friends._

He knocked away the longing inside of him with annoyance. But once and awhile, he found his guard down as he felt himself smile or a laugh slipped out of him. Without him noticing, it wore away bit by bit.

By the time the three guys decided it was late, and Sasuke was firm on Sakura getting rest, he completely forgot about staying cold and expressionless. For once, it seemed like he had something else to live for besides revenge.

"Will you guys come back?" Sakura looked at the three with hopeful eyes. But then she looked down, "But...I guess you guys have your own friends to be with..."

Naruto openly reassured her, "Hey! You're our friend too! Of course I'll be back!"

Shikamaru yawned and said before walking off, "Sure, saves me from doing homework, and you have a good view of the clouds here. Oh yea, and you're Naruto's _only _friend."

The two walked off arguing again.

"My place is that way." Sasuke pointed the other way and started walking off.

"Okay." She waved, "Thank you for everything today."

Halfway to his apartment, he realized he left his trigonometry workbook in his desk; he headed back towards the school. He walked through the quiet halls all the way to homeroom 3A, sliding open the door.

But he wasn't the only one in the building.

Standing in from of the classroom was a short, black haired girl with lavender white eyes.

"Welcome to the night class."

* * *

A/N: Yay! Second chapter through! I'm a happy person! So, lets give it up for my dedications...

To my almost-twin Michelle! The girl I've known since 3 years old and even though she's shorter and hours younger, she's almost like a sister.

And to Kaydreams and Sillystringdancingqueen; the two users on here to first comment and review!

Vocab:

Hai- Yes

Characters

I'm only going to introduce the new ones, and I'll review the old after each arc. But if I did every time, then it'll get long and I'm too lazy to do that.

Ino- A student of Konezuku High, she's the popular girl that everyone knows. (Pay attention to her; she'll become a main character later...)

Iruka- The history teacher that, of course, is sick of Naruto's stupid pranks.

And the girl you saw at the end of the chapter, well, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter...

Stay tuned (yea, I know, that's cheesy and lame.)!


	3. Somebody, Suffering

**Chapter 3: Somebody; Suffering**

Flashback

_She was standing in the front of the classroom with her lavender-white eyes gazing at the moon shining on her face. The pale light glazed over her black, short hair and gentle face._

_"Welcome to the night class."_

_Sasuke's first thought was what a girl was doing at night in a school. He started to head towards his desk for his workbook, curious, but he decided she was just none of his business. _

_"A-are you here to enroll?" she asked, her voice naturally timid and a little bit stuttery. But she smiled like nothing was wrong with the concept of a night class. _

_He gave her a questioning look, "No, I forgot my book."_

_She gave him this dreamily sad smile, "W-would you like to join the night class?"_

_Who was this girl? Simply another girl who was here for no good reason? Sasuke thought so, but somewhere behind his thoughts told him there was something more to her. He looked over to see written on the chalkboard an attendance list, but the only name on it was: Hyuuga Hinata._

_"There's no such thing as a night class." Sasuke said, annoyed with her little pretend-game. He started to walk back towards the door, "If you like school so much, then why don't you go in the day, like everyone else?" He took a step out of the room._

_"Because," she started in a distant, sad voice. This time, it was without a single hesitation or stutter._

_Her next words made him pause._

_"those in the night class don't exist." _

End of Flashback.

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Sasuke couldn't help but think about the mysterious girl from last night as he walked downtown to grab breakfast on his way to Sakura's place.

**_"Those in the night class don't exist"_**

This was impossible, Sasuke could clearly see her and sense her presence- unlike Sakura from before.

_She was just being dramatic. _He told himself to stop thinking about her. It was bad enough he had to take care of Sakura. And getting to know her would tell himself that he was only becoming weaker: wasting his time on girls.

But still, something was bothering him about her. And his explanation didn't satisfy himself.

He got to Sakura's place, finding Sakura still asleep while hugging an open biology textbook. He shook his head and sighed, leaving her with a bag of sesame balls to allow her some rest.

When he walked back downtown, he realized he had basically nothing to do for the rest of the day. He took out his cell out of his pocket and started to dial Ino's number. _Just out of boredom_, he told himself, _nothing else._

"Morning Sasuke!"

Great, she had put him on a friends list.

"Hinata."

"Huh?"

"Hyuuga Hinata. Have you heard of her?" He asked. Of course, he could've called Naruto or Shikamaru, but Ino seemed like the type of girl in a social class that knew everyone in the school.

"Um...nope, I don't think so. Is she in the high school?"

Come to think of it, she wasn't wearing the school outfit for high school. Instead, she had a dress in green with a black blouse, brown tie and socks. It was the middle-school outfit.

"I don't know." Sasuke was confused; she definitely did not look young enough to be a middle scholar.

"Well, you could visit Neji, he might know her, having the same last name and all. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't have another female sister or cousin besides Hinabi, who's in elementary." she suggested. "Why do you ask?"

"Nothing, I just saw her name pop up somewhere." He didn't want Ino spreading rumors around.

"Uh...okay! Sorry, got to go, I have another call on hold. See ya!"

The phone-line made a _click_, leaving Sasuke staring at his cell.

_**"Those in the night class don't exist."**_

No. There had to be an explanation why she was so unknown. For some reason she was like a puzzle he just had to solve. Otherwise, it'd bother him for a while, he knew it and hated it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He waiting for night to come, chipping away at time by doing homework and extra studies. When the clock hit 7pm, he got up and walked out of his apartment.

He was planning to go back to room 3A. This time, he was going to find out who that girl really was.

As he expected, she was there, reading a book while sitting on the windowsill with the moonlight shining in her black hair. Seeing Sasuke at the doorway, she smiled.

""Have you brought your homework?"

What was wrong with her? She was acting like she was in a real class.

Instead of answering her, he asked. "Why are you here?"

She smiled again, "Because I love school."

He looked around, "It doesn't look like much of a class though."

She looked down with sad eyes, "That's because there are not many people like me."

Finally he asked, "Who are you?"

She held out her hand. "That's right, I forgot. You introduce yourself like this when meeting a new friend at school. It's been a while since I've done this."

_What does she mean by that? _He shook her hand anyway.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"I'm glad to meet someone from the day class." She smiled with curious eyes.

"Why don't you go to the high school?"

"Because," Her eyes turned distant, "nobodies should never be seen in the outside world."

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Physics class was Sasuke's last class before lunch, although science and math were his two best subjects, he was bored to hell- he had learned all the lessons since middle school. While the rest of the class stayed attentive, he only paid half of the attention he should've. He didn't even have Naruto's stupidity to smirk at for spare time; of course, the idiot couldn't make it into an AP class. Staring out the window to the foliage of trees shedding their flame colors un-amused gray eyes; he suddenly spotted a short, black haired girl with a petite figure hiding behind a tree.

The bell rung and he was now looking forward to lunch, a bit interested in figuring out Hinata. He paced over to his locker, grabbed his lunch, and walked out to the courtyard.

"Yo! Sasuke! Over here!" He turned to see Naruto calling out to him by the same tree, along with Sakura waving at him, Shikamaru napping, and Neji relaxing.

"I have something to do." He called back to them and made his way to the forest path that led to the gate- where he last saw Hinata.

Sakura became curious. After all, this was Sasuke, the guy who rarely seemed to show any interest in anything. So she tagged along. "Where are you going?"

She didn't get an answer, since right after her question; they found Hinata behind a group of trees. The shy girl blushed when she saw that she was caught.

Sasuke greeted her with a raised eyebrow, "Never be seen, huh?" He challenged, re-quoting her from the night before.

Hinata's face grew even redder, but Sakura didn't notice, she was excited to meet a new friend, "Hiyas! Are you new? I'm Haruno Sakura, but you can call me Sakura!"

Her misty eyes looked down, "H-hyuuga H-hinata."

"Hmm...are you in the middle school? I've never seen that uniform before!"

Sasuke turned to observe how Hinata would respond. She only shook her head, still unsure about what to do about Sakura, who was bubbly and outgoing. He only sighed.

"Whoops...Ahaha..." Sakura noticed Sasuke's sigh, "I'm talking too fast aren't I? sorry...this is my first time meeting so many new friends, it's really fun!"

Hinata heard this and looked in her eyes, alarmed about hurting Sakura's feelings. "Oh, no! I-I...I like it when people talk to me...i-it's just that...I don't know what to say next."

This caught Sakura by surprise. But she gave a friendly giggle, "Ahaha! Don't worry, Hinata-chan-can I call you that? - is Hinata-chan, if you try being someone else, then I'll never be able to meet the real Hinata-chan, and I really _really_ want to meet her!" She smiled kindly.

_She's met her for only a couple minutes, barely knows her, and she's being so nice to her. A complete stranger. _Sasuke was inwardly amazed, he'd never had this many people that he joked or laughed with- 'friends'. He could never do what Sakura just did.

A small smile appeared on Hinata's red face, "T-thank you..."

Sakura had an innocent, confused look as she clasped Hinata's hands into hers, "You don't need to thank the truth. We should have a weekend together, promise okay? I have to go, I have an art project I need to catch up on. Bye-bye!" she ran off, more cheery than ever.

As the two left watched her skip her way back, Sasuke asked, "So, you've never had a friend before?" Maybe if she said it was true, he would feel better. So maybe he wasn't the only one without a friend in the world. But he denied the thought, _there's no shame in having time wasters in your life._

She looked back at him, unembarrassed, but sad. "Oh, no. I have had friends, just not in along time. They must've forgotten about me by now. After all," she looked up to the sky, "It's been quite a while."

"You aren't in middle school, are you." It wasn't a question anymore, it was a statement.

"No." She replied quietly, but then she gave a small smile, "If I were in day school, I'd be in..." she counted her fingers, "10th grade."

"Why aren't you in school, really?" He didn't want any of her little depressing statements again.

"I'm sick.  
He gave her a side-glance, "For more than a week?"

"It's a long-term sickness." She smiled sadly.

"_It lasts forever."_

He thought her heard her voice whisper in the wind, "What did you say?"

"Oh! N-nothing!" She stuttered.

He knew she said something, he heard what she said, he just wasn't sure if he had imagined it. But instead, he asked, "Why are you here then? You should be resting."

"I miss school. I want to feel all those feelings you get to have there. It...it seems so fun, being able to have friends, homework, even crushes. I want to know what it feels like to be sad, and then feel like you're on the top of the world when everything is all right again. There are a lot of things I have to miss." She looked up to the skies, eyes sad and pleading as if a spirit would grant her wish.

Sasuke didn't know what to say. Standing before him was a girl who was deprived of a normal life- a chance to be carefree without a memory or thought weighing on her heart. In a way, he didn't want her to be like him. Was it sympathy? Compassion?

It was just that a shy, caring girl shouldn't be in his position. That was all; Sasuke wouldn't admit anything else to himself.

"I start outdoor basketball this Thursday, you can come watch if you want." He looked to the side at her, "If that's what you think other school girls do." He couldn't believe he just said that, but he did.

Her whole face lit up at the thought of being able to watch the guys play basketball like normal squealish schoolgirls. "Really?!"

"Yes." He looked the other way, sort of scared that if he saw her excited, grateful face, he'd melt even weaker. But he didn't get what was so wonderful about being a flirty, what he found, annoying teenage girl.

However, Hinata did. And Sasuke knew it had something to do with how when the bell rung for students to get back to class, he had to join the other students while she could only watch and yearn to be them.

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The weather started to grow harsh as it grew colder in December, but no snow came, so outdoor sports still continued on. The sound of loud footsteps resounded through the schoolyard as well as the echoes of basketballs hitting the ground. The boy's basketball season had started their first official practice today, and yet they already had quite a large number of fans as they started playing a scrimmage against one another.

The whistle blew just after Sasuke made his shot trough the hoop, bringing his team to a three-point lead win. Girls squealed and then sighed in adoration, wishing they had one of the team members as their boyfriend. Other snobby cheerleaders bragged about those one the team they were currently going out with.

All the guys headed towards the benches and cheerleaders to pack up their bags. They also took there time for chatting, either trying to stay cool around the girls, or being like Naruto (actually, it was just him) by boasting like an idiot.

For Sasuke, it was fending off all the annoying girls crowding him, and slipping on his sweatshirt to go off in a hurry. Hinata was not among the crowd, causing him to wonder if she stayed in today because she was too ill.

But he spotted her, yet again, behind a tree. She was too shy to hang around the others. He rolled his eyes at this and went quietly over her, making sure nobody noticed him slip off. Of course, most of the girls did, but he was quick enough to drag Hinata off. He definitely didn't want them to get the wrong idea.

"T-that was amazing!" She stuttered, but seemed incredibly happy about the hour and a half she had just witnessed.

He continued walking and looked back at her, still wondering how such a girl like her could've possibly caused him to do all this.

She didn't notice and left herself replaying her memories in delight with her head bowed down, face flushed with excitement.

"Hey! Hey! Sasuke! Wait up!" Naruto ran up to the two of them and then slung his arm over Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, unimpressed, and kind of annoyed.

Naruto noticed Hinata, their eyes met for a quick moment and then Hinata looked down quickly, her face growing redder and redder. Naruto kept his eyes on her for a moment, and then realized he was staring after Sasuke kicked him. Apparently, it was pretty hard.

"Ouch!" He yelled out.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. Hinata still was looking at her feet, now fidgeting.

But Naruto quickly recovered, although Sasuke was quick to notice that he seemed a bit more self-conscious than usual (he never really was self conscious before). "Hey, why do you get all the girls? Do you have a girlfriend now?" He teased, nudging Sasuke.

Sasuke ignored him. So Naruto went on to talk to Hinata, although it was obvious he was thinking about what to say.

"I haven't seen you around here! Did you just move?"

Hinata slid behind Sasuke just a bit. He was about to say something once he thought about what to tell Naruto when Hinata interrupted.

"I-I'm j-just m-moved here...b-but I-I'm moving so-somewhere e-else s-soon."

Sasuke looked back. His surprised mixed with the fact that she had just gathered the courage to talk to Naruto, and that she had just lied.

Naruto bought it though and grinned, "Sweet. It's too bad your gonna move though..." Sasuke saw a look of dejection in his blue eyes, "But at least we still have some time to hang out!"

This surprised Hinata, her misty eyes widened and then grew calm with serene delight. "I-I'd like t-that..." Her face was so red as she looked back down at her feet again.

"Cool! That way, you get to meet my other friends too! Hey Neji!" Naruto called out to the long-haired boy, who was just passing by.

Neji turned around. The first thing he saw was Hinata and his face showed shock.

Naruto didn't notice and babbled on, "This is Hi-

He walked away briskly without a word.

Sasuke watched him walk off, confirming his thoughts. Naruto looked furiously at Neji's back and turned to Hinata apologetically, "What's up with him?"

Naruto ran off to confront Neji and Sasuke said once he was out of a hearing distance, "How do you plan to live up to that lie?"

Hinata looked at the two in the distance. "Oh...there will come a time when it'll be like I really did move..."

Sasuke didn't get this, but he asked her something else. "You and Hyuuga are related, aren't you?"

Hinata looked down at her feet, her eyes showed her hidden agony. Her voice was empty, as if she had said this many times.

"No. I've never met him before."

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For the next few days, Hinata slowly mended her way into Sasuke's gang. Shikamaru, Naruto, and Sakura only grew to know her as Hyuuga Hinata- the girl who had just moved to the town and was soon planning to move into a new town once her parents found a house. It was only Sasuke that knew the truth.

She would meet the four at lunch, hiding behind a tree. And Sakura would fill her in on every detail about her school-life, and Hinata would listen to it all, fascinated, as if she was studying the whole thing.

Naruto would try talking to her, only to get stuttery answers. She would never look him in the eye, and the sound of his voice would make her blush. Although once and a while, she would sneak glances at him, only to look away quickly with her face red. But all the same, she enjoyed his antics and rowdiness.

But none of them even realized that everyday as the sat by the same tree, that someone watched them. They didn't realize Neji's absence and sudden coldness. All except Sasuke, who even knew to back off for a while.

But even Sasuke didn't see the shadow hiding by the window of the building, watching the five everyday.

As the five would enjoy their lunch together, Neji would watch. His eyes were shadows as he had his back to the wall, looking backward at the group.

But then he would realize, he didn't know Hinata at all.

And he would walk off among the darkness.

* * *

A/N: Sooo...how was it? Those of you NaruHina fans will be happy, I hope. Dedications...

Grateful to Michelle through and through! My editor that I continue to enjoy to harrass (but you love it Michelle, admit it...) Even though this time, it wasn't you that edited...so who was it?

ME!! This dedication is to me for actually not being lazy and editing! YAY! I'm so proud of me! (pats own back)

Vocab:

There are none. If there are, go google them. Or ask me!

Characters:

Hinata- The shy girl who is too sick to go to school, she goes at night because she misses it too much.

Stay tuned peoples!!


	4. Happier, Dying

**Chapter 4: Happier; Dying**

Both the town and city were quiet. Saturday mornings were lazy, with everyone taking the chance to stay longer in bed. The streets were empty, with the exception of a few straggling people who were early birds and unafraid of the chilly weather. It wasn't that early, since the sky was already bright, and the sun shone with white brightness that was enough to count as midmorning.

Sasuke was the only one walking down the paved road of the neighborhood of large summerhouses. Wearing jeans and a gray sweatshirt, he followed the directions Ino sent him by cell.

He arrived at an oriental-style house, with a huge estate and a stonewall surrounding lush grass. Right off the bat, Sasuke could tell that Neji's family must have a huge amount of money. His assumption was backed up with the proof of a man-made small pond decorated with lily pads. He looked into the windows as he walked up to the polished wood porch, they were layered with a thin sheet of rice paper, so he could see the oriental carved furniture and other valuable heirlooms.

He knocked on the door and was answered by Neji.

The older boy was surprised. With an eyebrow raised, he asked. "May I help you?"

Sasuke sensed something straining his voice- coldness? Neji had been acting ruder lately. "Yeah. I'm looking for Hyuuga Hinata."

His ice white eyes gave him a frosty stare.

"No. I've never heard of her. Such a girl doesn't exist."

And he closed the door shut before Sasuke could respond, bringing the house back to darkness again.

An older man walked down the stairs wearing a white yukata, "Neji-san, who was that?" the shadows that stretched over him didn't hide his worried, cloud eyes as he looked at his nephew.

"Nobody. Just someone asking for a Hyuuga Hinata: and I've never heard of her before."

He walked right past Hinata without a glance at her. Her head was kept down, and her eyes were hazy with loneliness.

She was there the whole time, silent without a word.

Like she didn't exist.

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Sunday sucked. Sasuke was bored out of his mind. He still was disturbed over Neji's reaction yesterday. He could remember the image clearly in his mind as he sat on his desk tapping his pen, letting his mind wander off his history paper.

He gave up and walked to the door, grabbing his navy jacket off the coat rack. He headed outdoors and made his way to the school. Of course, he wasn't planning to do extra schoolwork. Instead, he planned on waiting in the school path for Hinata. He made his way through the stone-path with autumn trees that were beginning to grow bare due to the December air on both sides.

But there was nobody there but him, so he stood there for a while facing the empty scene as the wind blew. _What am I doing here? _Was he actually staring to accept Hinata as well? It couldn't be possible, just two weeks ago he was fine alone.

He walked back out to the front gate; no longer as furious as he would've been before about himself. His mind was blank, his feelings confusing to even himself. So Hinata wasn't even at her favorite place: school. Where else could she be?

He then remembered that he needed to get a prescribed pain-reliever for Sakura's soreness. After all, he might as well, since she was so forgetful that it was worrying, and he refused to let her walk out alone in fear that she was too clumsy.

So instead of heading home, he only sighed (for some reason) and headed towards the pharmacy. The pharmacy was one of the places that was so easy to find that he didn't need Ino's help (plus, he just didn't feel like calling her again. She gets so _annoying_ sometimes). It was in the hospital as well, so he waited on the bench for the pharmacist to find the medicine while watching doctors and patients go by.

"How long will she last?" Sasuke overheard a man's voice, as it grew closer while conversing with a doctor.

"Until her birthday. At most, that's how long she'll live." Sasuke turned to see a doctor shaking his head in grime sympathy.

The man he was talking to had long hair in a loose ponytail; his expression was frozen with stiff grief. A girl with short black hair and cloud eyes stood by him quietly, almost unnoticeable. But he could tell she was cold with pain.

_Hinata?! _

**_It's a long term sickness_**

_**It lasts forever**_

_No...no way!!_

He stopped thinking and stood up, his eyes serious as they met Hinata's when she walked by. Her expression was shocked, but that didn't cover the sadness in her eyes. She stopped to face him, but her eyes were down at her feet.

"Oh! Hinata-chan, is this a friend?"

She looked up at her father and stammered, "Um...t-this i-is-

"Go ahead, you can go do whatever you wish." He cut her off without an introduction, like he really didn't care who Sasuke was, only that he was talking to his daughter. His face didn't look like he made an offer, but it was like a request instead. As if he was begging her to fulfill last wishes to make herself happy.

"It'll only be a while." Sasuke said curtly and walked off with Hinata silently following him. It bothered him how she tried to make herself invisible, "We have to talk."

He led her all the way to the school path, where he had been waiting for her before.

He waited for her to speak. But it was silence that swallowed their conversation.

"You're not sick"

She didn't speak. But he finally understood everything; why she didn't go to school, why she stayed at school during the night, why she lied to all his other friends. _Her moving soon wasn't really moving; it was dying, so they wouldn't worry._

"You're-

"Dying." She finished for him in a quiet voice that was barely audible. "I'm dying." She repeated with more volume.

"You didn't find out just now."

"No. I knew since middle school. It's why I dropped out, because I figured, there was no point. That someday, I wouldn't be in a school picture anymore and soon, everyone would forget me." She looked up, trying to hide the tears welling up, but her voice shifted. "I accepted it, that soon enough, I wouldn't be here anymore, it wasn't fair, but I accepted it..."

"...But one time, I just felt really horrible. That everything was just a lie. Like it was just teasing me, because this taste of life I was having...I was going to be deprived of it. I was so sad...I really, really wanted to die. So I took a pocket knife and started to press it to my wrist..."

She looked at him and smiled miserably, "But then I remembered you and all your friends. And for some reason, I started laughing, smiling, and crying at the same time. How ironic was it...that all the six years of hurt I never felt was all coming back in one moment? Because I realized, I was going to miss everything. I remembered you, and I knew I still wanted to do so many things; I wanted to have fun in school, be a normal girl, and have so many sweet memories to smile for. I wanted so much more."

He stayed silent, unsure of what to say.

"And you gave me almost everything I could have as just a normal girl that was going to live for a long time- instead of one that was going to die soon- in only a few days. But I still want more, I can't help it, but I'm greedy. I still want to live more."

The world was silent to her confession, but he could hear crying. Somewhere in her heart, she was sobbing from the pain inside. And finally he said the only two words he could think of to say, out of all the million thoughts spinning in his mind.

"I'm sorry."

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Four days passed, everything was normal at school. Would it still be like this when someone died? That eventually, it would only become the smallest change in the world? As if soon enough, it would be something of a faded memory of any everyday thing; tying shoes, choosing clothes, doing homework. Would everything mix into the past, until it just becomes of bland line of routines, forgotten like everything else. That was the thing; nothing ever affects the world forever.

Everything for someone, was changing. And most of the time, nearly nobody knew. It only hurt the few people who did. And one of them was Sasuke.

It hurt to hide everything. Sasuke had learned this after the first day of locking the secret inside of him. Soon, she would no longer be here. Yet nobody but him knew that once she left, she would never be back again.

He still joined in with his friends at lunch, as if nothing was wrong. The four schoolmates chatted about Friday's fieldtrip to a nearby city. Hinata politely listened while the others continued picnicking.

"Hinata-chan, do you want to join us tomorrow?" Sakura excitedly asked Hinata in that special way that most people couldn't say no to. She leaned towards her with pleading eyes.

Sasuke looked at her in question. Hinata sensed it and replied, "S-s-sure. B-but I really d-don't want t-to intr-rude." She blushed.

Naruto quickly assured her, "Of course not! Come with us!"

His outburst was so sudden and determined it caused Sasuke to raise an eyebrow in amusement and smirk. Shikamaru just had to snort; he heard the conversation through his cloud watching. Sakura giggled.

All this caused Hinata to turn deep red. She stuttered, "T-then, I-I g-guess I-I'll go..." But she grew silent with embarrassment.

Naruto rephrased uncomfortably, "I mean, uh, you're, uh, like, uh, a friend. So, it's like, uh, not intruding. Right? Right?" His tan face was tinged slightly with red, which was so unlike him. "Uh...I think I'll just eat my ramen now." So he abandoned the conversation and went to eating his ramen in silence.

Shikamaru snorted, "Smart choice." He got knocked on the head by a textbook from Naruto's direction. The two glared at each other.

In some way, Sasuke didn't get it, how Naruto had to act so weird. Did it really matter how she thought of him? After all, all of this would soon be in the past. Why bother?

Luckily, Sakura saved the two from embarrassment, "Yay!" she clapped and bounced up and down, "I can't wait for tomorrow!"

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4am was no problem for Sasuke to make it to the speed train station. He walked to the outskirts of town with a heavier jacket, since it was getting colder and colder. He could see the puffs of breath come out mistily in the cutting air as he first stopped by Sakura's house before getting to the station to wake her up.

He had to wait for her outside, since she was still sleeping when he got there. She dressed into her regular school attire of a long sleeved white blouse, forest green sweater vest, brown pleated skirt, and long black socks. She walked behind him to the station, deprived of breakfast and without a coat. But she didn't seem to notice, since she was still half sleeping instead.

"Awwwhy did we have to get up so early?" She whined.

"It's your own fault. Sleep earlier." He stood and loitered with the other students at the station.

They found Shikamaru, who apparently hadn't slept enough either and was "dozing off" (or sleeping, depending on whether or not you were to go by definition of a dictionary) on a bench, rudely taking up the whole thing.

"Having fun?" Sasuke woke him up with his sarcasm. Sakura only yawned, her eyes half closed.

"Hey," Shikamaru stretched and opened an eye, "this is going to be the best part of the field trips, don't screw it up."

The class was beginning to board the train. Sasuke looked around and noticed Naruto's absence. _That idiot._

"HEY WAIT! WAIT!" Naruto came running towards the train with a backpack on his back, running as fast as he could.

The late boy ran right into Sasuke, knocking him into the train right before it went into motion.

"Woah!" Naruto rubbed his head.

"You. Idiot." Sasuke said through clenched teeth as he threw Naruto off him. Girls giggled and pointed.

Naruto looked around as he found a seat next to Shikamaru (who was still sleeping, but it was betting than sitting next to Chouji, who was stuffing his face behind them). "Where's Hinata?"

Sasuke sat next to Sakura, across from the other two. Since Sakura was still with her eyes closed and smiling (he really didn't want to know what kind of weird dream she was having), he answered. "She's taking another bus there and meeting us when we get into our groups for touring."

"Okay, I was just curious-that's all." Naruto replied.

"Mmhmm...Sure." Shikamaru comment sarcastically.

"Shut up!" Naruto knocked him on the head.

"Geez..." Shikamaru rubbed his head, irritated. "Just warning you about woman. They are so troublesome."

"Why don't you ever sleep when I need you to stay quiet?" Naruto muttered.

Over the next hour Sasuke sat in silence listening to his i-pod. Unlike the other three, he couldn't get to sleep, and didn't feel like it. The feeling he had in him was different. He felt, strangely enough, excited. Just a bit looking forward to something as stupid as spending his day downtown.

_Hyuuga Hinata._ Who was she to him? Who was everyone to him? Just weeks before, they were all time-wasters, blind to the real world. They were normal high-school kids who knew nothing about pain, and only had a happy life they took for granted. They were nothing to him.

At first sight, Hinata was a girl who had self isolated herself from peers, stupid and dramatic. But then, she was lonely and in the misery of being chained from a normal life. Now, he saw the different side of her, the one behind the shy, withdrawn innocence. The one that was dying, stripped from the warmth of a future.

But this was different; she was still different from him. He convinced himself. Everyone was still different from him. Even Hinata. However, he still couldn't deny that they were his friends. But they were temporary. Until he killed his family's murderer, they were here to help him.

Tools.

That he would soon throw away. Once he got what he wanted.

For now though, he would enjoy himself.

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When they got there, it was 6am. Naruto was already hyper and babbling, excited to be 'released' from the train. Sakura eventually woke up and was suddenly full of energy. Shikamaru, however, was harder to wake up. Sasuke and Naruto had to drag him out. He finally woke up when Naruto accidentally dropped him onto a bench railing, hitting him between the legs. Sasuke conveniently "lost" his grip at the same exact time as well.

And so Naruto and Shikamaru spent the time walking toward the museum with the class arguing, until they got into the building and the tour guide got annoyed.

The museum was obviously the boring part of the trip that nobody was paying attention to (even Kakashi seemed inattentive, after all, his book was so much more "interesting") and everyone was looking forward to noon so they could go off on their own in the city. Once it turned twelve, all the teachers were finished setting the ground rules and set the groups free.

"So, where's Hinata?" Naruto asked as the school crowd began to disperse.

"We told her to meet us up at the center of the city." Sakura hop-skipped besides Sasuke.

"How far is that?" Shikamaru asked, he hated anything that didn't involved sleeping.

"Does it matter?" Sasuke sarcastically replied, "We're not carrying you there even if you didn't want to."

"Com'on! Com'on!" Naruto urged them. He waved the map at them, "We can't keep Hinata waiting!" But he collided into another person, causing the map to slip from his fingers. Their only way of getting there blew away into the wind. "Oh. Crap."

Shikamaru clenched his teeth, seething over the fact that they were lost. "You. Idiot!"

Sasuke kept calm while Sakura fretted. However, he was still pretty pissed at Naruto's idioticy. He took over the gang and tried to find a way around without a map. He refused to ask for help from the other city-goers.

But eventually, Sakura couldn't take it anymore, so she asked someone for directions. When they finally made it there, they found Hinata sitting on a bench alone and shivering. She was wearing only a light jacket.

Naruto rushed over, "Sorry! Sorry! How long have you been waiting? He slid off his heavy orange jacket and put it on Hinata, leaving him with only his thin school shirt.

Sakura's eyes brightened at the sight of a stand adorned with Christmas-like ornaments nearby and tugged on Sasuke's sleeve. Sasuke knew what she wanted just by looking at her huge pleading eyes. He had this look on this face that read _I don't believe I'm doing this_, but he nodded anyway. Sakura clapped happily and pulled Hinata along. Naruto tagged along, leaving Shikamaru to doze off on a street bench.

The woman running the stand saw Hinata hiding shyly behind the couple playing in front of the group. She noticed how Hinata was looking at a charm bracelet and kindly asked, "Miss? Would you like to try? With the young gentleman over there?" She nodded at Naruto.

Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and then blushed. "Wha-me?"

The woman looked questioningly at the two, waiting for an answer.

"I-I guess..." Naruto mumbled.

He stepped up cautiously with Sakura pushing Hinata behind him with giggles. He took aim with a mini-gun for the target above the charm bracelet, but slipped up and got a white teddy bear backpack instead. He cursed and ducked his head down in embarrassment as he handed it to Hinata

"Sorry. But-" Then he turned and decided it was best if he gave it back since it wasn't what she had wanted. "I guess you didn't want-

She grabbed it from him and stuttered, "N-no! D-don't! I mean..." She shyly slung it over her back, "I-I li-like it an-anyway...a lot..."

Naruto couldn't help but stare at Hinata, with her dreamy, light lavender eyes matching snow. And her short hair flowing like water in the wind as she twirled elegantly with the backpack.

When they were done playing arcade games and chatting (without Naruto and Hinata in the conversation. They were in the middle of an awkward silence). They walked a few blocks down when they passed a bookstore. Hinata's eyes looked at it with desire and Naruto noticed.

"You guys! Over here!"

They entered the store and Hinata went ahead to look at the books with Sakura along by her. Naruto, Sasuke, and Shikamaru hung out behind.

Sasuke noticed Naruto's frustrated, crestfallen look and waited for him to say something.

"I'm such a loser." He blue eyes looked miserable.

Sasuke looked ahead and inwardly sighed. He wasn't the type to waste time comforting people. After all, it was their own problem. But somehow, it bothered him how Naruto was so, well, un-Narutoish. So he decided to say something so the irritation would stop. Just for himself, not for Naruto.

"Her expectations might not be as high as you think. Sometimes, you have to just ignore how to look to the world."

Naruto looked up surprised and cheered up slightly. He teased Sasuke, "Since when did you turn so cheesy?"

Sasuke ignored that comment.

"Wah! Kawaii!" Sakura's voice rung out through the store.

The three guys went over to see what the commotion was all about. They went through a maze of bookshelves and found the two girls by a stand of miscellaneous items. Sakura was admiring Hinata trying out a ribbon. It was silky white latticed with a lacey snowflake design, along with a pale lavender crystal cut into an angel. She was wearing it as a wristband ribbon.

Naruto stared again. This time at how the white brought out the gentleness of her pure eyes, and the lace making her seem so effortlessly graceful. Just like an angel. His eyes grew spacey.

Hinata saw he was staring and blushed deeply. Naruto caught himself and looked like he was going to hit himself.

"You should buy it! You should! You should!" Sakura leapt up and down.

"Oh! N-no...i-it's o-okay, I-I don-don't ha-have any mo-money..." She quickly set the item back. The store manager looked pityingly at Hinata: it really did look beautiful on her.

Naruto seemed to know that too. "I can pay." He took the ribbon and put it in the case, heading towards the cash register.

"B-But!-" Hinata tried to convince Naruto that she didn't want it, but Naruto was determined to buy it for her. After all, he definitely needed to make everything else up to her. But he seemed oblivious to what buying it for her meant.

Hinata did know what the ribbon meant though (A/N: Check the bottom for vocab). And when he paid for it, the cashier winked at Hinata. "How long have you two been together?"

Naruto looked confused, but Hinata blushed and looked down. When they walked out, Hinata looked sad and distant at her gift. Sasuke guessed what she was thinking about; Naruto had just wasted his money. Since soon, she would be gone...and Naruto would forget soon enough.

"Just think about it this way; in a way, he's doing it for himself. He really wants this for you. So just let him." He said quietly to her while they walked behind Naruto.

Hinata looked up, and just by the look of her face, he knew he guessed right. But she only nodded. In a way, she liked it...how it felt to feel really warm in the face...and how Naruto just bought her a ribbon, even if it was embarrassing.

It made her feel normal.

But, it just made her more heart broken too.

Now she wanted to stay even longer.

She was going to miss everything even more.

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The school didn't provide the bus ride back, so all students had to have their own plan on how to get home. Most of the students were planning on taking the same train back. Sasuke's group was one of them.

The fingers of night started to stretch over the pink sky. It was only 4pm, and the group had finished going through all the stands of the Winter Festival. Naruto spent his last coins for a cinnamon bun for Hinata.

"We should get going." Sasuke mentioned, noticing the changing sky while the others finished buying sweets.

Shikamaru checked his watch and agreed. They rushed their way to the station, but it was completely isolated.

Shikamaru slapped his forehead and groaned. He knew they had missed the bus, and it was going to be a long wait.

Naruto fumbled with his pocket and unwrinkled his sheet of paper. "But! Right here! It says 5pm departure!" He pointed at the sheet frantically.

Sasuke looked over and sighed. "This would've worked...if it was two days ago." He pointed out. Naruto had searched up the schedule for December 24th. It was the 26th.

"Oi...what do we do now?" Sakura hugged herself, worried.

"We'll walk back and find the nearest bus station that's still open." Sasuke lead the group, "It'll be faster than waiting."

They walked for more than one hour with only dim, flickering streetlights to guide them on the lonely road. The sky was pitch black with pinpricks of white stars, and the air was numbing their cheeks. All five seemed cold and miserable.

Sakura then thought of an idea and her eyes shone up with a bit of mischievousness. She walked slower, dropping behind the group while dragging Sasuke and Shikamaru with her. She put a finger to her lips and giggled.

Now it was only Naruto and Hinata.

In the midst of the icy night, Naruto was still without his coat. He sneezed loudly.

Hinata looked worried and guilty as she quickly put his coat back on, "H-here! Y-you'll g-get a co-cold!"

But Naruto looked at her with cheerless eyes and replied, "No, you should keep it. I'm fine. I owe you since I screwed up everything for you today." He looked down, "I'm sorry I'm such a loser."

Hinata smiled gently and blushed, "Oh no...I-I lo-loved to-today, i-it was th-the be-best day of m-my li-life!"

He looked up, confused. "But, I did everything wrong. And everything went wrong. Today was supposed to be perfect. And I ruined it."

She shook her head slowly and looked up at the sky, "B-but, I-I liked it th-that way. I wa-want everything to-to be j-just n-normal for me. And i-if everything was perfect," She looked at him shyly, "T-then it wouldn't b-be normal, would it?"

Naruto's water blue eyes looked into snow-white eyes. If only...

"Ah!" Hinata yelped and all of a suddenly clung on to Naruto's shirt. "I-I j-just f-felt something a-against my leg!"

Something dark just blurred by, causing the ribbon Naruto bought for her to drift into the air and above a small lake off the side of the road.

"I got it!" Naruto reached out to grab it and lost his balance. He fell into the icy lake, pulling Hinata in with him.

Meanwhile, Sakura and the other two jumped into the bushes to watch the scene. Sakura struggled not to giggle and blow their cover.

He held the wet ribbon and looked to find her in the shallow water. She reappeared only a centimeter from his face.

Her face grew hot despite the cold water and fainted.

He caught her with his arms. "Oi! Hinata!? Wake up! What's wrong? Hinata!?"

His friends leapt out from the shrubs to grab them out, calling their friend's name.

"Hinata?!"

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Sasuke let himself fall into bed without changing. It had took them 2 hours to walk to a bus that got them home.

Finally.

Suddenly the phone rang.

_Who could be calling at this time? _He picked up the phone. "Uchiha Sasuke speaking."

"So...what's the plan?" Sakura's chirpy voice seemed excited and curious, as if waiting for him to tell her some sort of secret.

Sasuke didn't catch on, "What plan?"

"She didn't tell you?" She asked.

"Hinata's birthday is tomorrow."

* * *

A/N: Those of you who didn't catch on to the birthday thing might want to reread the beginning of this chapter. Sorry for its lengthiness. It actually would've been a lot more if I didn't cut out parts.

So? How are you all liking Hinata? And Sasuke?

No dedications. Only to me I guess...since I'm the one spending my time editing AND writing. Sheesh, multitasking is bothersome. ARGggggg...well okay, dedications to all you wonderful fans. teehee.

Vocab:

Kawaii- cute (I think all of you have heard that one before)

Ribbon- yea, it's not a vocab, cuz you all (hopefully) know what it is. But in some traditions of high school and middle school, guys will give a girl they think they'll love forever ribbons. If she wears it on her wrist or upper arm with her school outfit, it'll mean she believes in him and they are in love.

There are no new characters, if there are and you're confused, just ask me!

Once again, thanks for reading! You don't know what it feels like to see new reviews and feedback, so keep that up! And seriously, COMMENT! I NEED SUPPORT! SOME MOTIVATION-JUICE! HINT HINT: YOU PEOPLE!!


	5. Wishes, Death

**Chapter 5: Wishes; Death**

_**"She didn't tell you?"**_

_**"Hinata's birthday is tomorrow."**_

_**"Until her birthday. At most, that's how long she'll live."**_

Sasuke clenched his fist. His whole body felt tense as he remembered Sakura's phone call when he got up in the morning.

She purposely didn't tell him so he wouldn't worry. She didn't tell him because he was the only one who knew the truth. She spared him from pain, only to burden the pain of dying alone. H was infuriated, but sad. She sacrificed her happiness for everyone else, even if she was dying.

But he was going to give her a party. Today was her last day.

Tomorrow she would be gone. Forever.

Once she left, the only way he would be able to see her again, was if he clung on to the short memories behind him.

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Hinata was already there at her usual spot, with bare trees towering over her. She seemed smaller, frailer. Or maybe it was just the pain of her heart compressing her to defeat.

"Happy Birthday." He interrupted without an expression shown.

Hinata look at him in surprise, but then realized that it was expected of a person like him to find out. So she only smiled guiltily with a faraway look in her eyes. Like always.

"You lied." _Again._

She didn't deny it was replied quietly, "There's no need to worry about someone who will no longer be alive soon. It's not for you to worry about nonexistent ones."

It was shocking how she was so unsure of herself as a normal girl. And how she was so confident and calm about her own death, and how soon, she would no longer be able to feel anything. It was like she knew what death would bring her, yet she didn't.

As if nothing on the earth she had done mattered anymore.

"But it is. Why did you even bother to be friends with us then? Was everything to you the last few days just any other day? Did you feel anything? If you think that way, then why didn't you just die? Do you expect us to live some kind of lie while you died without a goodbye?" His voice rippled through the path, quiet yet strong. "Is it that horrible for friends to grieve for one another?"

_Did I just say that?_

She looked at him with angry, frustrated eyes. Someone he had seen for the first time. "Please. I don't want to make it harder for any of you. I don't want to all to be sad...for me; I'm going to be gone anyway, no longer existent. So, just don't let anyone know."

"You'll still be existent to us. You can't deny that."

"Nobody should have to deal with me. I only bring pain." She looked down; avoiding his deep, pool black eyes. She didn't want to see what lied underneath the rippling black.

"It doesn't matter. Because it's not about us, it's about you. Even you admitted it, today's your last day. You shouldn't care."

His words looked like they tempted her to say something. A gust of wind blew between them, beckoning her to listen to him.

"Sorry...if this seems greedy..." He heard a quiet whisper from her.

"Can I...can I have just one last present before I go? One last thing for me to feel normal again?"

He nodded.

A tear slid down her cheek and fell to the ground like a single drop of rain.

"Invite Neji-kun."

He knew it.

She turned away to hide the tears that were following the first. But he could hear the hope pulled from the painful memories in her heart sobbing for her.

"Sure. Just act surprised at the party."

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He went over to Sakura's place to help her plan the part out that morning, not trusting Sakura to be able to handle it alone. Luckily, he brought her breakfast, since when he went in, he found her sleeping at a desk with piles of rejected plans.

He sighed. "Wake up." He placed the bag of sponge bread in front of her, he already knew her well enough to know that she had a sweet tooth.

Miraculously, the smell of sugar woke her up. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, "Nyu? Oh...good morning...Uchiha-kun...Ah!" She suddenly remembered. "I still don't have anything planned out yet!"

He sighed as she started getting anxious, "I'll help."

"Really?!" She looked at him with round eyes, as if he were god or something.

_Crap, why am I doing this? _He felt a sudden jolt in him when she gave him that look. And then he started to wonder why he was even bothering with all this. With Hinata too.

_Because you care..._A tiny voice whispered in his head.

No. He refused to believe that. It was all because he was bored.

She was just a friend...that's all. Friends aren't bad. It's not like she's close or anything. It's not like he was close to any of these guys.

The two went to work and started at the location, desserts, and decorations. They ended up choosing a wintery theme along with renting a small frosty blue and white cottage near the outskirts of town.

While Sakura started on making her gift (she refused to let Sasuke look). Sasuke thumbed through the mess of paperwork on the desk. He found a book with a title: Konezuku Middle School.

He flipped through it and found pictures of many of the students in his grade from the 5th grade. He stopped when he saw a scrapbook page with group pictures of friends.

At the corner was a small girl with pale eyes and cropped hair avoiding the camera's gaze. Along with her were two other boys: one holding a small puppy with dark brown hair and the other with his eyes hidden by sunglasses with a more serious look.

"Hey, who are there two?" Sasuke asked Sakura, pointing at the picture.

"Hmm..." Sakura tried remembering for a minute and then snapped her fingers, "That one over there is Aburame Shino-kun, and the other one is Inuzuka Kiba-kun and Akamaru." She put a finger to her cheek and thought out loud, "Ano...I think Aburame-kun is in homeroom 3B...and so is Inuzuka-kun. And oh! Inuzuka-kun is on the basketball team!"

Now Sasuke realized why one of them looked so familiar; he had seen him before at practice. He headed out to the door. He had an optional basketball game that he'd planned to skip, but now, he decided to go and find Inuzuka. After all, if they were friends with Hinata seven years ago...wouldn't she be happy to see them one last time?

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"Yo Uchiha, I've got your back." Number 12, Inuzuka Kiba called out behind him as they switched to offence.

Sasuke swiftly darted through his opponents and made a quick pass to Kiba, who was right in front of the hoop. Kiba took a shot at the last 10 seconds and it swished through.

"Hey, nice pass." Kiba nodded at Sasuke, throwing a towel over his shoulder as the after events of the game carried on.

"Thanks." Sasuke packed his bag and weaved through the string of fan girls.

Kiba was right behind him, as skilled as dodging hugs as Sasuke was. However, he didn't have as much to dodge. He snorted, "Girls. Think they know everything about guys and their tastes."

Sasuke couldn't have agreed more.

"But I can imagine a guy like you would have tons of girls on the waiting list, eh?" He teased Sasuke.

"Not really." How was he going to ask him about Hinata?

"I used to have a friend who was a girl back in middle school. She was different in a way, not so flirty. But she was really shy, ya know? But she moved like, years ago."

Now was his chance. "Hyuuga Hinata, right?"

Kiba's eyes widened. "How did you-?

"You can see her one more time, if you want."

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From Kiba, he had gotten a hold of where Aburame Shino usually was on Saturdays. He walked over downtown and into a building with different departments of science laboratories. He went up to floor 5, where the Aburame Ecological Department was located.

He sat at the waiting room while the office woman called for Shino. He got up when he saw a tall guy with a lab suit on, and black shades.

They shook hands as a form of politeness. Sasuke introduced himself first. "Uchiha Sasuke"

"Aburame Shino, may I help you?"

"Not really me, but for a friend of yours from middle school."

"And who might that be?" The serious boy raised an eyebrow.

"Hinata. Hyuuga Hinata. It's her birthday today."

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Everything by midday was set. The decorations were done, and the food was set.

Sasuke sat down on a petite chair and looked up at the banner. _Why am I here?_ He asked himself one more time. Here he was, wasting time with parties for a girl. He was so confused; he wanted to laugh at his own stupid self.

Then he wondered why he was laughing. There was nothing funny about it.

Was he laughing to end the pain?

Probably, but it still hurt.

It hurt because in his mind, all of this effort seemed so fake. The party, the friends, the fun...birthdays were all to celebrate the coming of age and how there was still a future ahead to fulfill wishes.

Hinata could wish all she want...

But she was never going to have a future.

These last few hours of this day was her future.

Today was her death.

How much happier...yet sadder could it get?

But Sasuke still had one last thing he had to do for her. Every normal student with a relative should have their family celebrate their birthday.

Or last day to live.

He was going to make Neji go.

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The library was a hushed place where every other loud noises in the town couldn't filter through. White light of the noon sun shafted through the window as squares of the wooden furnish.

"what do you want?" Neji asked Sasuke without looking away from the small text.

"I need help babysitting for a kid's party." he lied, he knew Neji wouldn't go if he told the truth, and would deny that he knew a girl named Hinata.

_**"Can I...can I have just one last present before I go? One last thing for me to feel normal again?"**_

_**"Invite Neji-kun."**_

Neji raised an eyebrow, still keeping in mind that Sasuke had pestered him before about _that_ girl, "You don't seem like the type to handle little kids well." He shrugged. "Whatever."

Sasuke clenched his teeth.

"What time should I come?"

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"Okay...almost there! And...now!" Sakura let her hands fall from Hinata's eyes.

"Happy birthday!"

Sparkly confetti showered like snow. With her eyes finally able to see, she noticed the lacy banner above her: Happy Birthday Hinata!

And she felt blessed. Blessed with such friends that saved her from slowly suffocating from loneliness. Bless with the memories of these past few days-to be able to die experiencing the beauty of being average.

She was also lucky to have the confetti flakes clinging on her flushed face.

Because otherwise, people would've been able to tell that the sparkling confetti framing her eyes...they were tears.

"Hyuuga-chan! What are you waiting for? Come one! If you make us wait any longer, Naruto's gonna eat all the cake!" Shikamaru called out to her while fighting Naruto off.

She hesitated. Sasuke said behind her, "Don't worry about us. We have forever. You don't. This is your last chance."

She looked back and smiled gratefully. She ran over and stopped midway, frozen when she heard someone howl happy birthday obnoxiously off key along with the barking of a dog.

"Happy Birthday tooo youuu!" A boy appeared with spiky dark hair with a large white dog by his side. He stopped at the sight of her.

Silence among the two. Both without a clue of what to say.

But Hinata walked slowly over and held out a hand. "K-kon-ni-ni-ch-chi-wa...I'm-

He hugged her, "Hyuuga Hinata. I know. It's been a while."

The dog jumped up and down, pawing at Hinata for attention. She looked down, "Akamaru?"

He gave a toothy grin, "Yea, he...sorta grew."

"Growing, the biological nature of science." A deep voice broke in.

The two turned to see a boy wearing shades walk to them. Kiba waved, "Yo! Shino!"

Hinata's eyes shone with happiness- all the happiness she had been robbed of was all being returned in one moment. She looked around to Sasuke, once again, thankful. He shrugged and encouraged her to catch up with her old friends. But he mouthed: I told you they wouldn't forget.

After an hour, Sakura was able to whisk her away for some karaoke. Sasuke hung out with Kiba and Shino behind the loud crowd.

Kiba chugged a cup of punch. "Hey, Uchiha."

Sasuke looked at him expressionlessly like always.

"Thanks. For all this."

He shrugged again. He didn't feel like saying anything. AS if anything he said would give her secret away.

"She's still as shy as always, thank god. You know, I was kinda worried at first. I mean, seven years can do a lot." He drank another cup and leaned back, "Like me and Shino. We've known each other since five. But without her, everything, just, changed ya know?"

"Yea. No problem."

"Can't believe that today's the only day I'll get to see her again. But then of course, I could always visit her new place."

He couldn't say anything to that. But that's what everyone thought. Painless. they weren't missing her as much as they should. But he promised.

"Okay everyone! Present time!" Sakura clapped her hands and rushed to the pile of bags. She grabbed the package in the middle. "Ne Ne Hinata-chan, mine first! Mine first!"

Oohing and ahhing was after every gift, and Hinata thanked every person with disjointed eyes. Sasuke's present wasn't there yet, and she did well to hid her disappointment.

Sasuke noticed and checked his watch in silent anger. _Asshole, where is he?_

In the end, Sasuke's gift never came.

Neither did Naruto's, but she smiled understandingly at him, but she wasn't really paying attention to him as they walked alone down a bamboo path in the moonlight.

"I-it's fine, r-really." She assured him shyly as they walked, looking away from him.

"No, no. That's, that's not it. I screwed up everything. I remembered, but I couldn't get it in time." He slapped his head, frustrated.

She shook her head. "But...j-just, b-being t-to m-meet you..." She took a deep breath and gains the confidence to look him in the eyes for a split second, "...it's the be-best pre-present e-ever."

He grew red at the chance to finally look at her face to face for more than a few seconds in the moonlight. He saw everything. Her glimmering hair, dreamy eyes, even her pale, yet flushed face.

He took a deep breath, "Wait. Just, just let me say this." As if he was afraid that she might run away from the intensity like a frightened rabbit, "I, I really like you. And,"

She looked down at her feet, unsure what to do. She could feel the burning desire welling inside her, but the strong wall of her shyness blocking it. This was her last chance.

"And, I know you're only moving and I'll still be able to see you...but I feel like, it won't be the same."

He cupped her face and didn't notice the fear in her eyes from his sharp intuition. "If...I could...is it okay...?..."

He leaned closer. And inch away from true love...so close to reach something she's wanted...something she could experience a couple hours before she died...Before she died...before she no longer can love...walk...see friends...

Just closer.

He stopped. She realized she was crying.

"I-I'm s-s-so s-so-so-rr-ry, i-it's ju-ju-st." She couldn't. She just couldn't well up the courage to do it. And she lost her chance. Not only this, but many chances. What would happen after this?

She would never be able to do anything.

Never see him again.

He brushed a tear from her cheek and whispered. "It's okay. It's okay. We've got time, I can wait."

"I've got time."

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Sasuke left early in the evening. He briskly paced through the town. To everyone the would've passed by him, he would've seen calm and composed. But in reality, he was furious. And in a rush too.

To kick Neji's ass.

He obviously had figured out Sasuke's lie, somehow. Well, it was expected. Neji wasn't completely stupid. But he still was.

He was stupid not to go.

Just one little visit. That's all it would've taken.

So why was he so stubborn about it?

Sasuke didn't bother knocking the wooden door to his house. Since it was unlocked, he walked right through, ignoring the darkness in the windows. Sasuke knew he was here.

And he was right. Sitting with a remote, shattered look on his face was Neji. He was by a window with the shades blocking any trace of light around his desolate aura.

Neji noticed Sasuke without looking at his tense face, and continued to look out the window with blank eyes.

"Why?"

"Why didn't you go?" Sasuke repeated, his voice was like a storm waiting to be set free to destroy.

Neji still didn't respond. He looked so empty that Sasuke almost believed that he couldn't hear him.

"She's your cousin." He simply said in restrained fury. "So why don't you just admit-

"No. She's not. I don't know her."

This caused Sasuke's eyes to snap like an onyx inferno. "Bull. Shit. She even asked for you to come you asshole."

"Well, you've got the wrong person, okay?!" His voice started to crack as it went up to a higher volume. Sasuke could see the calmness in him about to snap.

But he didn't care. "Do you even care that she's dying? What-

"Just stop okay? Stop! I. Don't. Know. Her!" He snapped around and looked at him with lightning white eyes that would've shocked anyone- except Sasuke could still see the unstable shaking.

H walked over the to shelf of pictures. There at the very top of the fancy woodwork was a portrait of two relatives. A longhaired boy standing protectively and kindly behind a girl that looked like him. Like best friends.

"Then, what's this?" He took down the picture and held it to him.

Neji shook violently, his breaths quickening.

"You blew it. Today is her last day, and you, goddamned blew it. I don't believe-

And the lightning storm in Neji's eyes was finally released. His hands were to his head, as if trying to crumple the burning thoughts in his head. Standing up, Sasuke saw the shrunken, shuddering eyes.

"You don't get it! You, you know nothing!" H pointed at him, his voice hoarse and edging towards deliria. "You don't know what it's like! Don't say a fucking thing about me! Do you think it's easy?" He stabbed right through the photograph, puncturing the little girl's face and breaking through the glass that cut his hand.

"Do you think it's easy looking at someone that's going to die?!" He started ripping and shredding the pictures-all the pictures of Hinata: albums, framed photos...- into pieces. Just like trying to erase the past.

Sasuke didn't say anything. Something inside of him felt pity and understanding as he watched Neji shatter glass and snap frames.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up! It doesn't hurt! She's nobody!"

"She was always, always..."

"Nobody!!" He threw the last one to the ground. Although he had hidden his feelings for so long, this was it. This was his breaking point. His eyes were red from crying and wild from his thoughts that were eating him alive.

The lights turned on and both of them turned to see a streak of black hair. The door slammed, and all that was left were bags of presents.

But Sasuke knew who it was.

_Hinata!_

He went after her.

But if he had stayed just a bit longer. He would've seen Neji.

He would've seen him lost and alone like a little boy. Sobbing in the midst of fragments of pictures.

* * *

A/N: How was that? I didn't really edit that much, I only breezed past it. Tell me if there was any misunderstandings in there that confused you.

I just want to make a clear statement: Hinata and Sasuke are only friends, not close at all. Sasuke's just the only one who knows her secret.

Vocab:

Ano- Um

Ne- Hey

Characters:

Kiba- A childhood friend of Hinata's, although he lost touch with her when she 'moved'

Shino- Another childhood friend of Hinata's, his story with her is the same as Kiba's

Comment peoples!!


	6. Harmless Nobody, Painful Beloved

**Chapter 6: Harmless Nobody, Painful Beloved**

Snowing, it was finally snowing. And all the coldness of the clouds that had been attempting to hold back for so long...had given up. And once they had given up, there was no taking back the fierce winds and cold ice that made a whipping blizzard. Letting all the anger and bitterness that had been protected from the earth for so long fall.

A single truth had stormed its way through. Shattering everything in its way...

Including hearts.

Ice whirred and wind slammed into buildings. Shrieking at window panes and throwing itself at the unfortunate cars on the road.

Sasuke fought it. He shielded his eyes from being stabbed by the snow and ran against the wind that challenged him to back down. But he would not. He would never back down. Not even as the snow became like daggers trying to pin him there to freeze, not even as he slipped under the cruel icy path.

He wasn't even thinking about it.

Only about how to find Hinata.

But he already guessed where she would be.

His hand felt the familiar grip of the black lattice gate to the school pathway. He leaned his way forward, trying to walk in without the ability to see anything but the white blurring his vision.

The door creaked shut and the trees shielded him form the wrath of harsh snow, as if there wasn't a blizzard outside. There were only soft winds that slid their way through branches, and small flurries of white that drifted in.

Sasuke walked down the path, not finding a trace of the girl anywhere.

When the path opened up to the courtyard and still didn't see anything. Then he started panicking. He walked quickly through the hallways.

Empty. They were all empty.

He could feel the beating of his heart quickening and couldn't stop it. He couldn't tell himself to calm down. There was only the screaming through his blood:

_Is she dead?_

He could feel himself running. He wanted to yell her name. Be able to say it to her one last time so she could hear him. And somewhere inside him, there was a desire...

To be able to keep here alive with just a single word.

He opened the door to the top of the building and found her standing close to the railing, leaning out to fall. Her two hands gripped on tightly.

Then she saw him.

The heartbroken look that hollowed her eyes crashed a dozen weights on his heart.

"Two hours left. Should I just leave? Because nobody will miss one who never existed." She smiled with faded despair, like her whole self was splitting into tiny pieces that left nothing whole behind.

He could see everything so clearly now; even when her hand made the littlest movement of loosening up. With her fingers slipping off the bar one by one. Letting go.

Letting go of everything.

He caught one of her hands before the other one let go.

She looked back and saw him with a tight grip on her, as if holding her tighter would prevent her from dying.

"Two hours. Two hours to remember everything we did for you." He gray eyes nearly flashed red.

"And I am definitely not a nobody."

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How long would it feel like? A few minutes? A whole day? In reality, one hour and fifty-eight minutes doesn't really tell the time at all. In reality, one hour and fifty-eight minutes could last forever. Or it could last so shortly, that it only seemed like it happened without one blink. Time is cruel; it tortures, it tricks, it hurts. It tells you the units of time that you have; yet the same time could be a lot or a little.

In the end, an hour and fifty-eight minutes is nothing but a name.

They sat outside on the top of the building, ignoring the blizzard that enveloped them. Worrying about a cold was useless.

They looked out to the courtyard blanketed in white as the winds shaped dunes.

"Did you know? When I was seven." She started in a small whisper, "I was discarded as the heir for the leader of my family. I came home one day and saw my father holding my test grades.

"I had gotten below average on math-I had always liked reading better- and he was furious. He told me, that I was shaming the whole clan, and if I continued to fail, then they would disown me; I would become a nobody.

"So I ran away."

She caught a falling snowflake by the nose, "I still remember, it was a day like this, snowing really hard. But I ran anyway. I thought I could live in a forest." She laughed distantly, "like Snow White. But I got lost and it was dark, so I started crying.

"Then, another boy came and wrote a math problem onto the snow.

"He told me, 'Don't cry, I can help you!'

"I told him everything. How I hated math...how scary it was for me to talk to people...everything about school that I hated. Which was basically the whole thing about it.

"He spent the whole night teaching me math, pretending it was like school; only it was at night. Except, it was fun. For the first time. And he promised me,

"That I was somebody. That he could help me prove to myself that I was not useless."

She smiled faintly at the memory, "That was the first time I met Hyuuga Neji, my cousin, the one who would take my place when I was discarded. But he helped me anyway. And soon, I started believing, that maybe I was someone worthwhile to pay attention to.

"And so, I wanted to prove it. That very first day I went to middle school, Neji was already taking some classes at the high school. He told me, that in the 2nd year, there'd be a really hard test in math. But I wasn't scared. I was only excited to show everyone when I passed.

"Studying never became a chore to me, it was fun knowing Neji was there. He believed in me. And everyday during lunch break, I'd always look up across the high school courtyard to the very top of the building and watch him wave to me."

A wistful look fogged her eyes, "I dreamed of being there with him. Having just one whole day of school with him there as an equal."

The snow started to lighten up. Snowflakes scattered gently from the sky, sticking to her wet eyelashes.

"I abandoned that dream a long time ago though, when I found out about my sickness. The doctors told me, that even though it was small, it would spread slowly. And then I would die."

She laughed, but it was like a squeak squelched with a chocked sob, "They told me it was okay. I still had time to live. I could still do everything normally like a wanted.

"But they lied. Because to me, that was the same as tormenting me to death. But I still had this silly hope that I could live, that someday, when I grew older, I'd get a chance to tell this as a story.

"So at the last day of school, I went up to the high school building and hid a list of things I wanted to do before I died, just in case I would live up to a day to sit at the top here, and have no worry in the world with Neji." She looked down at the bench they were sitting on, "Right here, where Neji would always stand and wave."

"But it's gone." the words came out as a hazy puff of warmth that dispersed into cold air. Just like the fragile hope she held to her heart; broken by coldness.

"No it's not."

Hinata and Sasuke turned and saw Neji. He was breathless from running and his whole face was pale from the icy air. He brought no jacket to keep him warm-it didn't seem to matter-, only a teddy bear backpack filled with the school supplies she was given as presents.

And in his other hand was a crumpled, aged sheet of paper.

"I keep my promises."

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One hour and forty minutes to go.

Time is cruel. It tortures. It lets one think about the final moment until the time it states is up, not wanting that final moment to arrive. Yet one cannot help but think about it, and so it taints the only moments before so bitterly. Everything counts down to just that one last second. But time must go on.

And so time is cruel.

Hinata dressed into a change of a winter high school uniform, along with Naruto's ribbon as well. She walked out of the locker room and found Neji already waiting with his outfit on, as well as Sasuke standing silently behind him.

He hands her the backpack and lets her carry it. He smiles and smile so genuine, that Sasuke found it hard to believe that he was hurting inside. But he knew Neji was being strangled the same way he was.

It was the same for Sasuke too. Before it felt okay to talk to her, maybe because the truth hadn't really hit him yet. Hadn't really reached his belief.

But now it had. And he finally truly understood why Neji was like himself before. He was right, it was hard to look at her as a friend as she was close to leaving in front of his eyes.

"We have language arts first. Are you sure you want to be late for your first class?" He chided gently as Hinata looked around the hallways with wide eyes and observed herself in the outfit as well. As if the presence of Neji walking beside her had made her see the school in a new way.

She shook her head as she looked down at her shoes, still unsure of what to say to the cousin that had been a stranger to her for seven years.

He held out a hand, "You won't get lost. I'll lead you."

He brought them to the library, where the wooden shelves were only centimeters from the ceiling. Each shelf was tightly crammed with books.

Neji didn't question Sasuke when he declined following them to find a selection to read and instead preferred to sit and wait alone. But he did say one thing, "You always say it's her last chance. But you seem to forget one thing, it's also your last chance as well."

Sasuke stared as the boy walked off and kindly helped Hinata carry the heavy books, as if nothing before had happened.

Sasuke was reluctantly amazed at how Neji was able to ignore and forget all that had happened to him and his cousin for even just a short hour or so to make her happy. All the pain he had felt each time he looked at her, knowing that she was going to die...Before he decided to escape the easy way by ignoring her.

Now, Neji was turning back and facing the hurdle. And he chose to struggle and be tortured by his feelings, to give the trigger of his angst- his own close cousin- the happiness to last a whole lifetime that she was deprived of. But as he had put it, it was his last chance to have everything back to the joyful normalness of life again- before everything had turned on the two.

And Sasuke wasn't taking that chance. Because he was still in denial. Somewhere inside, somewhere he didn't know, he kept thinking that she was going to live. That there was no use in saying goodbye.

Perhaps saying goodbye just hurt too much.

He saw Hinata wave excitedly over to him at the lounging area of the library and walked over. She seemed the happiest he had seen her since the very first day he met her. And at that time, he only realized how much she must have loved Neji as a close friend.

He silently sat across from her on the rug. Neji made himself comfortable on a sofa, and Hinata eagerly peered over him, sitting at the arm of the sofa. To their side was a huge window showing the night scene, with the black sky contrasting against the white ground and the stars matching the snowflakes.

Neji's face softened as he opened the cover of the old book and saw what it was. "Starlight." He smiled back at her, "Remember? How you couldn't read it? And you told me 'just wait, I promise I'll be able to read it someday.'"

She shared the same nostalgic look as him as she nodded and read over his shoulder,

"Once upon a time..."

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An hour and two minutes left, and time traverses on without a shred of sympathy.

Time is cruel. It plays tricks on those who think they have time. For when one dares to allow his or herself to not think about time- the next time they look, they are only to be traumatized at how little time they had left. And for that reason, time makes it frightening to enjoy. Yet, sometimes, one can't help but be innocently dragged into loving life.

And so time is deceitful.

The sound of the library door sliding open ruined the silence of the building, as Hinata followed Neji out the room with Sasuke silently following behind them.

"Itoko-chan, what do we do now?" Hinata tugged on Neji's sleeve. The wall that had once marked them as strangers over the past years had dissolved completely. And Hinata- who was once the same girl stuttering and hesitant of communicating to others- had never stumbled for a moment since Neji was by her side.

He opened his locker and smiled at her, "Lunch." He took out an old bento box with a scribbled, elementary level handwriting that read: H. Hinata.

Her eyes grew wide and shone. Sasuke only watched the two, not participating. He'd never seen her like that before, and realized how much one person could affect another's life.

"Are they cinnamon buns?" She asked, looking down proudly at the lunch box in her hands. As if it was her first time going to school.

He nodded and looked fondly at his cousin. "I still remember."

This seemed to make her even happier, "With-?

"Extra cinnamon, no frosting, bits of apples, and senzai" He finished.

She clapped.

He brought his gaze away from her to look outside, "It's not snowing as hard. Let's eat outside."

He seemed to know that Hinata loved snow and she was already heading towards the doors. "Come on!" She waved at them and laughed.

Neji walked with Sasuke, and without looking back at him, Neji quietly said. "The pain will only last a while."

Sasuke didn't need an explanation for his sudden speech. But he didn't respond. He didn't want to admit his weakness.

The three sat down beneath the tree that Sasuke and his friends would always sit. The grass was still visible, with the braches serving as an umbrella shielding the ground from white.

White snow slipped from the branches and fell onto Neji, and a soft giggle came from above. Neji looked up and grinned, "Hey, Hinata."

Hinata tried hiding from his view but lost balance. She fell onto Neji and the two were sprawled across the snow.

The two stared at each other for a short-lived second, letting the moment last. They laughed.

Sasuke was still sitting in the shadows against the tree. He watched the two with a mix of lament and sorrow. The two, from his point of view, made it seem like nothing was wrong. And it seemed so easy for them, even though they were the ones that were suffering the most.

It was melancholic, in a way. Yet he was happy at the same time.

Was it possible?

For him, it seemed impossible for them to have endured seven years of being strangers, as the two started making snow angels, looking not up sky, but only at each other. As if if they were to look away, one of them would disappear.

It seemed impossible to believe, that both were tormented by the truth, as they started building a snow teddy bear taller than the two put together. And throughout the whole time, they only talked about the past, although Sasuke would've thought it to only hurt more.

It was impossible. Impossible that Hinata was to die, as she was lifted onto Neji's back to put the final bells on the creature's ears. Symbolic of their friendship. Of forever.

And they never talked about how much they were going to miss each other.

Because they already knew that.

There was no time to waste for that.

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Thirty minutes left, and time is bringing yet another memory to a close. Without guilt or shame, time is wicked. Time is heartless.

Yet really, it is the human feelings that make it so.

Time aches. Time stabs. Time burns. Slowly and slowly. Time is the one thing that humans cannot grip. Humans cannot freeze time, and allow memories to live forever. Time will not allow that. The only thing to do to be protected by the agony time brings, is to be emotionless. But emotions are what make us human.

So our only choice is to wither slowly under the heat of desolation. Bit by bit we are stabbed with needles, crippled by age, burned with blazes...until we are only ashes.

And so time is hurtful.

Eleven-thirty, that's what the clock tower told the town at that moment. It stood towering above the school, and to anyone that was up that late staring at the clock, the first thing that came up in their mind was that it was thirty minutes until the 28th.

To the three sitting underneath the tree in the schoolyard, it was thirty minutes to a completely different life.

But that's not what Hinata and Neji were paying attention to.

Hinata sat next to Neji and held before her a sheet of paper with twenty questions. They were all math. She looked at it with determination and then looked to the side at Neji.

He nodded and encouraged her, "You can do it." He said softly.

She started filling out the blanks.

Although the difference was slight, Sasuke could see the energy that was in her two hours ago slowly being sapped away. Her eyes started becoming more and more distant and dull as her handwriting started to grow sloppier, loose. Slipping.

Neji didn't seem to notice as he started correcting her test. "Hey...Hinata, how did you like your first day of high school?"

Her voice was faint but lilted with bliss, "Oh...I really, really, really liked it Itoko-chan...I met a lot of friends...and then they even invited me to go on a fieldtrip..." She seemed to have forgotten the time span in her memories, "...and oh! I even..." She blushed, "...I even got to have my first crush."

Neji smiled at her childish thoughts as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"...and, and then I met a really nice boy...Uchiha Sasuke-kun...and, he helped me get all those friends...and he let me watch his basketball game too...and I never would've met Naruto-kun either..."

Sasuke stayed silent. He knew she was dying, but he still couldn't say it. Those two words were still trapped inside of him.

"Ne...Itoko-chan...?"

"Hmm?" He looked down at her.

"...Will...will you say thank you to him for me? Because thanks to him...I got very single one of my wishes in the end..." She absent-mindedly took out the crumpled list and started loosely checking off the list. Her eyes were misted, as if she were in a far away dream...

And then the pen dropped.

"Hey, Hinata...look, you got an 100...see?" He slid the paper to her lap.

She didn't move.

Her eyes were closed with her lips in a peaceful smile.

"Aren't you happy?" He started grasping the truth and hugged her.

He looked over her head and saw the list she checked off.

_Have friends _

_Fall in love _

_Read Starlight _

_Build a giant snow teddy bear _

_Go to school_

_Have a night school again_

Every one of the things was slashed the red pen.

But the last one was halfway marked.

One that he never saw before.

_Have Neji-chan love me again_

A tear rolled down his cheek. He didn't bother to wipe it off.

"Hey Hinata..." He held her tighter; his tears fell onto her short black hair.

"You know I had always loved you, right?" He squeezed his eyes shut in anger and sorrow, "It-it's just that it hurt too much. So I ran away."

His voice strained, "But I was wrong, and I hurt you, didn't I?

"It hurt didn't it?"

He whispered, "I'm so sorry, Hinata"

"But you knew all along, right Hinata?"

The sound of her name in his tone grew higher as the clock ticked seconds past twelve.

"Hinata? Will you ever forgive me?"

The wind blew. Stroking the innocent girl's soft, black hair. Dusting off the small flakes of white on her long eyelashes. Breathing gently across her small, serene body.

" Will you ever forgive me?"

* * *

A/N: I hope that ended off with a feeling I wanted it to end off on. And adding this note would just ruin it. Well, oh well. Just to mention, this is the end of the Hinata Arc, or whatever you wanna call it.

Dedications:

Melinda (Meldurr?)- whatever you prefer to call her, she's my sister and the one who has to live with listening to my rants and raves of my plot with (some sort of) patience. I'm grateful for her enduring my babbles and giving her (sometimes harsh) opinion.

Michelle- even if she might not have edited this, I'm not sure. But I'm puttin her on hear anywhere, cause she is the only other person here who has actually supported me!

And to all other fans so far!

Vocab:

Starlight- a fairy tale that is about an ugly maiden who is ignored into invisibility.

Itoko-chan- Cousin, putting the honorific chan at the end adds the closeness of best friends.

Senzai- sweet jam

Ne- Hey

Comment, comment, comment! Pretty Please!


	7. Faultlessness, Expectations

**Chapter 7: Faultlessness; Expectations**

Sasuke finished his onigiri and stopped in front of Neji's house.

Snow covered the town, laying softly over the roof tops and shimmered on tree branches. roads were already swept clean of any white, pushing the frozen powder to the side, which formed clouds of ivory. Neighbors started shoveling snow, leaving soaked trails of pavement as well as tainting the pureness of the flaky cold with dirt.

He walked over the long haired boy, looking down at him as he made his final prayers to a small gravestone with a picture of a girl of black cropped hair and snow lavender eyes. Propped against the carved stone was a teddy bear backpack, a fairytale book, and a ribbon tied around.

Sasuke looked at the framed picture with a faint sadness on his face. His eyes stared in an almost blank way at her, confused from all the combating emotions inside of him.

_She was never a friend._

_You only knew her for a few days._

_Who is she to you?_

_She was never part of the plan._

_But it hurts._

_It hurts._

Neji got up and brushed the powder off his knees. He stood face to face at Sasuke.

"Ready to go?"

Sasuke walked of with him. "Yeah."

But not before taking one last glance at the picture before leaving.

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As the two walked slowly and silently through the neighborhood, there was still time until school started. The stillness that loomed over them- caused by the memories that knotted them together- fabricated an awkward hush enveloping them.

Neji, with an inwardly deep breath, cut through the thick sheet of constraint. "Thank you."

Sasuke looked at him with muddled gray eyes without a clue what to say. He only shrugged, still without the nerve to talk about her.

But Neji seemed to be healed. "Because of you...Hinata was able to pass away happy." He looked up at the clear sky, grateful. "Thank you, for making me stronger."

_Stronger how? _What was strong? Did just simply being able to become friends with her make him strong? That's what Neji made it seem like.

Then...what was 'strong'?

To Sasuke, part of him thought it was the ability to live alone. To survive without a shred of compassion from others. That was him. He was strong. But now he was confused. He was caught up between one question: If he was so strong...then why wasn't he able to say goodbye to Hinata?

He knew that before he moved here, if the same thing had happened to him, it wouldn't have bothered him. Because nobody else mattered. But now, he was wondering. _What made it so hard to say goodbye? _

_What is this feeling?_

This feeling that tired him, clung on to something inside him with a heavy weight. It ached in a dull, torturous way. One that haunted.

Why? Why? Why?

There must be something wrong with him.

Neji didn't notice the barraging charcoal in Sasuke's eyes. He coughed, "Ahem...er...also. About that night, and the...uh...you know."

Sasuke could only half-hear Neji, but he knew what he was trying to say. Neji crying would make quite the story around school. So he nodded to show he understood.

And then the war of thoughts in his head raged on even more...Why couldn't he cry?

He could've done what Neji did that night when he got home: let out all the greif he was feeling. He could tell himself all he wanted that he didn't because he was strong. Because he knew how to hold back his feelings. But the truth was; he couldn't.

He couldn't cry.

He felt empty.

_I don't need emotions. _It was a good thing he didn't have any. That way, it wouldn't get in his way.

But...

Why didn't he have any?

They arrived at the schoolyard and parted ways. Sasuke walked up to his locker and did his daily routine with a blank mind. Well, it wasn't really blank. It was just filled with so many thoughts, that he couldn't think at all. So it might as well have been blank.

"U-chi-wa-kun! Ohayo!" Saukra bounded up to him and then sneezed.

He turned around and saw Sakura as cheerful as ever. Carefree without knowing anything. He sort of envied her, because of her lack of knowledge, she wasn't all confused like him.

"You'll get sick too if you keep doing that." The voice that slipped from him was empty.

She just noticed herself that she was without a coat and laughed sheepishly, "Ahaha~I forgot...but." she ten looked at him quizzically, "What did you mean by 'too'? Did someone else get sick?"

He had just caught himself. _Just don't think about her._ From there, he was more aware of what he said. "No. It's nothing."

How painful was it to not speak what was screaming in your mind.

They walked into homeroom and sat at their desks. While Sasuke had his mixed feelings churning inside, he did well to hide them. As if nothing ever happened.

So Sakura never noticed it. She babbled on, "I only came here without a coat because I really, really, really want to know if Hinata liked her party!" She hopped in front of his desk and into his expressionless face. "Well? Did she? Did she?"

Naruto noticed them, especially to after hearing Sakura's chirpy voice. He rushed over to harass Sasuke as well. "Yeah? Is she coming to lunch today?"

Both their eyes were so hopeful. _All for nothing..._That was what how he saw it. There were just living on a lie.

"Hey, check it out, some kids made a huge snowman in the front yard. That's the biggest so far." Shikamaru opened a sleepy eye and commented.

Sasuke looked over at the window and saw the large balls of snow piled on top of one another. The very top ball of snow had two ears sticking out, along with a small twinkle on one side of it. A snow teddybear

He had promised. And that promise was the only thing he had left of her in him. The only thing that could still live.

So he would keep it. No matter how messed up it was.

"No. She moved yesterday."

And that was all he could say.

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Fifth class was over quickly, although most of it was agony to the AP Calculus students in Asuma's class. It was test result day.

And the results were not pretty.

Some female students were driven to crying in fear of what punishments their parents would give due to their failing grades. And a couple male students refused to talk to anyone but themselves, only muttering over and over the equations they miscalculated.

Everyone was eager to leave the cursed room after Asuma was finished going over the test. Even Asuma seemed a bit relieved himself, to take a break from seeing miserable students.

Sasuke didn't really care. He took his time packing up his textbooks, including his test packet with a big 100%' written at the top.

"Ahem...Ah, Uchiha-kun." Asuma called out as Sasuke passed by the front desk. "Do you have some time?"

He wanted to say no, but that could've given him the risk of getting a grade lowered due to lack of interest in the subject. So he had no choice but to say yes.

He took him to the principal's office, knocking on the door with a plate that said: "Godaime Tsunade, Principal."

"Tsunade-sama. It's Asuma." The teacher called out, "I have Uchiha Sasuke with me."

He winced as he heard a hot-tempered shout from inside.

"THIS IS THE ELEVENTH TIME THAT YOU'VE PANTSED A TEACHER UZUMAKI! I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DEGRADING YOUR ELDERS!"

They both heard a crash and something shattering. The door creaked open slightly, showing the face of a dark eyed, dark haired woman with a stressed look on her face. She said in a soft voice, "Ah...uh...Tsunade-sama is sort of busy now-

"SHUT UP OL' LADY!"

"Why you!..."

They heard a few more seconds of struggling and crashes, with the woman flinching at each sound of something falling to the ground.

"Oi! Shizune! Send them in!" Another woman's voice resounded.

Shizune led the two in hesitantly, all of them with a look that showed their uncertainty for whether or not it was safe yet.

Sasuke looked around and noticed Naruto duct-taped to a chair with his mouth clamped by an unnecessary amount of masking tape. They met each other's eyes and Naruto turned away first, grumbling something in a pissed off tone. Sasuke could tell this was obviously not the first time he had been stuck in this office before.

He then looked at the woman sitting at the large desk sitting back smugly at her chair. Even he couldn't help but notice her abnormally large...well, chest. She blew on a strand of blonde hair that blacked her hazel eyes, still cooling off from her argument with Naruto.

"What?" She demanded.

Asuma and Sasuke sat down before her. Asuma ducked his head a bit and coughed, "This is Uchiha-

"Oh, that kid. Yeah, okay, okay. I've got it from here." She waved off his introduction.

Sasuke seemed slightly bemused at how the woman- Principal Tsunade- was handling it all. She did not appeal to him as a principal type at all.

"So, you got the only hundred in the grade?" She looked slightly impressed at the test paper Asuma-sensei handed to her. She chuckled, "And that was Ibiki's test from a couple years ago before he went to the college..."

She slammed a hand onto the desk and looked him in the eyes, "Okay, I'll get straight to the point, Uchiha. You're too smart for the high school math courses here, so we're moving you to Calculus III at the college nearby. Your sensei will be Morino-sensei. You get up earlier in the morning- I don't give a crap if you aren't a morning person-, go take the class, and get your butt back here on time. Got it? Good."

She was about to dismiss them when Asuma coughed again. "About the team-

"Why don't you tell him? You're the sponsor guy." She glared at him, not happy about losing more time to be alone.

He coughed, "Well, Uchiha-kun...we could use your help on the math team...you get extra attention for college if you take it. It's every Monday after school and starts today...Your father was the leader when he came here and so was your bro-"

He was cut off by an intentional 'ahem' by Tsunade, who gave him a sharp eye that showed a bit of seriousness inside.

He felt something snap inside of him. Somehow, he figured that they knew he would join because he was an Uchiha. And because he was an Uchiha, he had to be perfect. He couldn't say no, even if he wanted to.

He wanted to say no.

He got up, walked to the door, and twisted the doorknob aware that both teacher's eyes were on him.

Flashback

_"You are an Uchiha! You are not to shame us! Bear your last name well by being perfect! Understand?"_

End of Flashback

"Yeah. I got it." He walked out the door.

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Sasuke entered room 2D ten minutes after the bell rang. Usually, he would've been able to walk home with Naruto, Shikamaru, and then alone with Sakura for a while. But now, he was stuck here. He walked in prepared for the sight of math nerds.

He calculated that the amount of students in the room was around 16. He also spotted Neji at the corner of the room.

"So, you've been harassed into here as well?" Neji asked rhetorically.

Sasuke wordlessly sat down to the desk next to him, so Neji took it as a yes.

"Puh-lease, he wouldn't do a thing for this team." A girl with red eyes and one-sided unkempt hair in a shade of flames scoffed after eavesdropping onto their conversation.

"Planning to actually get on the team this time, Karin?" Neji asked calmly but with a bit of a teasing tone. Sasuke could tell that Neji was not very fond of the girl.

Karin smirked, "Don't underestimate me Hyuuga. At least I didn't get on the team just for the cause of my last name."

Neji ignored her comment. This girl was definitely an annoying one. Sasuke decided it was wiser to simply pretend she didn't exist.

"Ahem...okay, okay, I'm starting now." Asuma walked in and stood at the front of the room. "Well...welcome to the math club...today you all will be taking a test to see whether or not you will be making it to the team. Our team will consist of eight people, with two captains..."

"Don't count on getting that newbie, even I know my limits." She muttered to Sasuke.

Tests were passed out and for a while, only the soft scratches of pencil rubbing paper were heard, along with the ticking of the clock. Sasuke found the test long, yet easy as long as he made sure not to fall into any of the tricks they wanted test-takers to make. It was quite irritating.

For some, the test proved to be too hard even at the first few minutes, so they began to tap their fingers and wait for the time to be over.

However, after the 19 minutes, when Sasuke was only done with question 21 out of 85, he heard a chair slid out and footsteps walking to the front desk. He couldn't help but look up, seeing that it was an Asian girl that was completely finished with her test.

"Heh...and there you go, just as expected..." He heard the annoying girl laugh under her breath.

He turned in his paper with 20 minutes to spare, beating the girl next to him and being the 3rd to finish with Neji one second behind. He heard her scowl as he walked up and placed his packet on the desk. He noticed Shikamaru was 2nd to finish and was already napping.

Twenty minutes later, only a few were able to finish. The rest groaned and rubbed their heads while Asuma did the challenge question of the day.

While he wrote the never-ending equation, Neji explained all the past members of the team, including Shikamaru. "Don't take Shikamaru as an idiot. He has an IQ that can beat most of the teachers here. He's always been one of the captains, and Tsunade-sama has been beating him up to go to the college classes." He chuckled, "But he's way too lazy and would rather sleep."

Sasuke was about to ask who used to be the other captain but assumed it didn't matter, since he was going to be one of them soon. After all, he was an Uchiha.

"Try proving yourself now noob." Karin smirked as Asuma wrote the last variable on the chalkboard.

Sasuke was about to start on the problem when a girl's voice spoke out. "x equals sixty-four."

And the club was over like that.

Sasuke refused to believe that someone could solve a problem like that so fast. H also refused to believe that someone bested him. Neji saw his frustrated face and laughed, "That's how I felt the first time."

"Yeah, and that's might as well how you feel for the rest of the time." Karin walked past them with a rude comment.

"Ignore her," Shikamaru caught up to the two and yawned, "but I wouldn't try if I were you. Too bothersome, it would take years of pure math to catch up to her."

Sasuke felt the presence of the same Asian girl they were talking about; the one who had answered all 85 questions in a time which he thought impossible, and answered a chalkboard-long calculus problem in less than two minutes. She had black hair tied into two buns and amber eyes. Surprisingly, the aura she gave off while passing by him was empty, blankly painful.

"Who is she?" He was going to have some competition.

"That, is the team captain that's won us the region-wide cup for the past two years." Shikamaru answered for him, "Her name,"

"is Yin Tenten."

* * *

A/N: Yes, I gave Tenten a last name. I just felt that it suited her and it was unfair for her not to have one. She's such a minor character...she should be shown more often and we should know more about her. Just saying.

Just to mention, this starts the Tenten Arc.

This chapter was intended to cover more of the plot...but it just got too long in reality, so it'll just have to continue to chapter 8. (Sigh, that was NOT the plan...) But I'm sorry if this chapter was a tiny bit short. I guess you could take it as some sort of in betweenie chapter...not really a filler though...

No vocab, it's all the old stuff.

Characters:

Asuma- The head of the math curriculum of the high school, he teaches a few courses, and also coaches the math league.

Shizune- Assistant principal, works under Tsunade.

Tsunade- The principal of the school with a huge, scary temper.

Karin- Yep, I added her in too. She's in the same grade as Sasuke and has joined the math club since her first year in high school. But she's never made it to the team.

Tenten- The genius of the math league who has led the team to many victories since her freshman year. (You'll learn more about her next chapter.)

And...I think that's it! Comment please!


	8. Mistake, Unforgivable

****

Chapter 8: Mistake; Unforgivable

Flashback

_"Daddy! Daddy!" Sasuke, with his elementary school uniform runs through the doorway to greet his father from work. He waves a sheet of paper at him, jumping up and down to try to get attention from his tall, dignified father who towered over him. "Look! Look! I got an star for my report!"_

_His father doesn't smile, he only asks, "Who got the highest score?"_

_"Yin-chan, but Daddy! My teacher read mine out to the class and-_

_"No." His serious voice interrupts him, "Then that is not worth listening."_

_He walks away leaving his crestfallen son with his painful words._

_"You as an Uchiha must be perfect."_

_"An Uchiha must be better than everyone."_

End of Flashback

Sasuke felt his fist tighten as Tenten wordlessly walked away.

_Yin-chan..._

_Yin Tenten._

He had a rival now.

Yet something was weird about her, as her back was to them. Something cold and empty. She wasn't even smiling at her victory, not acknowledging her own accomplishment. It was like it was nothing to her.

His jaw tightened. It would've taken him at least ten minutes to answer that question, and for her to act like it was nothing...

"Hey! What's the rush?" Someone called out. Either Neji or Shikamaru, he didn't know. He was too busy walking in a silent, muted anger down the hallway to make his way out of the building.

More groups of students were being dismissed from clubs and activities, walking home with friends. But not Sasuke. He only kept his fast pace down a separate path away from the school.

"Uchiwa-kun! Hi-hi!" Sakura ran up from behind with her messenger bag flying out behind her. "Guess what? Guess what?"

She looked at him excitedly, waiting for him to respond: 'what?'. With her shining green eyes and the look of pure naivety like a child would plead attention from a parent, he couldn't stay angry. He sighed, "What?"

She nodded and smiled, "Look what I made!" She shoved two key-chains into his face.

He saw that one was a small flower fairy in pink, and the other was a ninja with a headband. The ninja was chibi and had spiky black hair with huge gray eyes.

It sort of resembled him.

Flashback

_"Sasu-chan! Look! Look what I made!" A small hand of a girl's pinched a key-chain in front of his eyes._

_"Wow! That's pretty! What are they for?"_

_"They're charms silly! I read in a book, that if you give charms to a really, really, really close friend, then you'll be together forever!"_

_"Wow! Is that true!"_

_"Of course it is silly!" She drew back the small accessories. "But this can't be ours because they have to look like us and the book said it has to show our true hearts!"_

_"Really?" the young version of Sasuke said thoughtfully and then brightly said,_

_"Then can you make me a ninja?!"_

End of Flashback

_This has to be fake!_

The sudden memory shocked him and he felt this odd sensation. For a moment, he was frightened of doing something out of ordinary so he forced himself to focus on anything else other than the ornaments.

He noticed the long red slash on Sakura's hand.

He heard himself ask, "What did you do to your hand?"

She drew back her arm and guiltily giggled, "Oh, that? Ahaha~ I sort of poked a needle through it..."

Flashback

_Crying, the girl was crying. He hated it when she cried; it made him feel sad too._

_"What's wrong?"_

_"M-my h-hand, I cut it..." She sniffled._

_"Aw, you're always so clumsy Sakura-chan!"_

End of Flashback

"You're always so clumsy...Sakura-chan."

And then he heard his own voice in the wind.

_Was that me?!!_

_Why did I say that?_

He had never called her by first name before. It couldn't have been him. He probably imagined it.

Right?

"Huh? Did you say something?" She asked and saw the blank, confused expression on his face.

"No." He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "It was nothing."

There was something going on. _Why do I keep on having sudden images of that girl when I'm with her?_

_Who is she?_

"So..." Sakura skipped, trying to keep a conversation. "Which club do you take?"

Sasuke didn't feel like telling her, nor being reminded of Tenten. But he didn't blame her, she didn't know. So he countered, "You take one too?"

She bobbed her head cutely, "Yup! Arts and crafts!" Her eyes shone with pride, "And you know what? One girl told me she really liked my art and promoted me to be vice-president!"

He was, in a way, happy for her. Even if she was none of his business. Even if she was just a tool.

She seemed happier, finally being noticed. No longer invisible like before.

He changed the subject though, "I thought arts and crafts was at the other side of the building." He pointed back from where they were going from.

She giggled, "Silly! I came from the music room. You know," She dropped her voice down to a whisper, "there's always someone playing the violin here from midnight to the morning." And then she smiled, "I always come here a listen, but that person never takes a break. I feel bad...so I dropped off a plate of cookies today! So that way, the person gets a break!"

She looks proud of herself. Sasuke sighed. This girl was weird.

"Ne~Ne!" She tugged on his sleeve, "Do you think you can listen with me?"

He looked at her face- with shimmering emerald eyes looking at him like his answer meant the world to her- and that was his mistake.

He heard himself reply.

"Sure."

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The night was silent, yet nothing seemed dead. Just merely asleep as the snow draped over the scene with an untainted white. Sasuke walked over to the same tree he met up with Sakura at when they talked after school. It looked bigger than usual with the moon high above it, and crystal ice made it seem like the tree was in full blossom with sparkling white-then-blue flowers.

"Pst~! Up here!" He heard an all-too-familiar voice giggle.

He looked up. It was Sakura sitting on a branch, hugging her knees and peering out to the windows of the music room. He climbed up to join her and she put a finger to her lips.

"Shh~! It's about to start!"

And then he saw it too. A faint shadow, darkest among the blacks of the inside. The figure seemed elegant and refined, yet mysterious and blank as he or she lifted the violin and began bowing a beautiful lullaby.

Sakura closed her eyes and slowly hummed with it. She whispered to him, "This is my hiding spot. I come here whenever I can. And there's always the same person, playing music over and over again. Without a single stop." Her eyes look sad, "It's beautiful, but somehow, I feel like that person is sad. Like they're missing something."

Then she looked at him, the moon reflected a gentle light off her eyes that made them look celadon. "Do you feel like that sometimes? Like you're missing something?"

Just looking at her made him want to tell the truth. That maybe, he could trust her to keep his secret of how he regrets just the tiniest bit of not knowing what caring feels like. That he was missing something he lost years ago. Something that he never had regreted...

Until now.

Emotions.

"No."

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He carried her back home that night, listening to the shadow violinist until the darkness in the air turned into a dark blue, signifying early morning. Sakura had fell asleep on his shoulder; sleeping in such a peaceful way that he couldn't bear to wake her.

Right after laying her on her bed, he went back to his apartment and got ready for his first college course. He slipped on the uniform jacket he was required to wear for the morning class and headed off with his briefcase.

Instead of heading downtown as he usually would've, he went to the suburban neighborhood and approached a huge stone building. It seemed almost like an old, medieval castle, except the sign on the front read: Tsuyoiki* College.

He looked at his school map that led him to a classroom filled with 2nd year college students. They didn't seem to notice him, with and exception of Neji and three other students from the high school math league.

Karin was one of them. She sniffed. "Hmph, seems like you had the nerve to join too, huh?"

A boy with silver-blue hair and matching eyes broke her mean streak, "Ah, give him a break Karin. You're in no position to be botherin' the guy," Then he smirked at him, "I am."

"Shush all of you. If Morino-sensei catches us talking when walking in, he'll give us all double-punishment." A boy with female features quieted them. His eyes were brown and his black hair was tied into a single bun.

They both quieted down. Sasuke noticed Tenten quietly reading a huge English textbook without a single glance at them.

_She thinks she's that good..._Sasuke scorned at her.

"Class has now officially begun." Ibiki walked into the room with his harsh, scary-looking demeanor and began the class with tough drills.

Sasuke survived through the class and walked back with the other four high school students. He conversed with Neji's calm small talk, Karin's annoying rants, Suigetsu's shouts of irritation, and Haku's (he had learned the boy's name) attempts to settle things down. But despite it all, Tenten refused to talk to them and only looked forward with hollow brown eyes.

They walked to the main foyer and found a group of math club students surrounding the bulletin board. None seemed all that surprised.

"Knock yourself out kid. Just don't get your hopes up." Suigetsu parted ways without a look at the board.

Sasuke made his way through the crowd, hopeful of beating Tenten. _I'll show her..._

He could show her nothing, because his test score was tied 3rd place with Neji, both of them missed one question. Following was Suigetsu, Haku, then Karin.

Second was to Shikamaru with a full score six minutes behind Tenten.

Making Tenten team captain for the third time in a row.

"Ah come on, don't tell me you really thought you could beat Tenten." Suigetsu nudged him after the final bell rang.

Sasuke brushed past him, crossing paths with Sakura along the way.

"Hiyas Uchiha-kun!" She skipped alongside him.

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow and then grinned evilly, "Well? Did you tell your girlfriend the news?"

She pouted and stuck her tongue out at him, "Uchiha-kun is _not _my boyfriend." She blushed, "He's just a good friend." Then she caught herself and waved her hands frantically, growing redder. "Not that he's _only _a good friend! He's a really, really, really good friend! Almost like a best friend! I guess..."

He glared at Suigetsu as Sakura's voice droned out. But he did plan on telling her to come to the math competition with him this weekend. Not that he wanted her there for support. It was just to keep an eye on here...

He coughed, "Do you have and plans this Saturday?"

"Nope! Why?" She looked at him with those big, curious eyes.

Just looking at them made him regret asking her, since now he didn't know what to say. No, he knew what to say, he was just scared to say it. He didn't know why, but suddenly, he just felt so...so...self conscious of himself.

"Hey! Hey! Uchiha! Heard you made it into the nerd tourny! Good luck!" Naruto knocked into him.

Sasuke rubbed his head from how loud he was. Naruto could be very annoying at the most inconvenient times.

"Really?" Sakura looked at him with shining eyes, genuinely happy for him. But then she paused to think, "Hey...wait...there's no such thing as a nerd club here..."

Sasuke looked at her and sighed. Suigetsu grinned, "No, it's the math club."

Now she seemed to get it. "Wow! Really?! You're amazing! Ne~ne~! Can I go? Can I? Can I? Please!?"

That was what he was planning to ask. In a way, he was saved by Naruto. "Sure."

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Over the next few days, Sasuke practiced as much as he could with math. This he did by spending time reviewing over huge mathematics textbooks for three hours after school at the library. He wanted- no needed- to prove that he was better. Better than everyone.

That meant Yin Tenten.

She would be at the library as well. Studying without a friend just like him, with the same hollow, blank eyes glued to a book. She would always stay longer. For every time Sasuke left, exhausted inside, he was too proud to show it, because she would still be there in the same sitting position as the first second she got there with a look in her eyes that showed no intention of stopping.

That Friday night, he found himself walking to school at Sakura's hiding place at the tree. He found her there as well.

She saw him and scolded, "You should be resting Uchiha-kun! It's going to be a big, big day tomorrow for you!"

He knew, but he needed something to calm him down. He was nervous. Nervous that he might not prove to be the best. He needed to b the best. He was an Uchiha.

He felt like she would've understood. But he didn't tell her. "Yeah. Well, whatever."

He climbed up and joined her.

"Ne~ you know, this could be our secret hiding place!" She rocked back and forth. The mystery violinist was still practicing-with no seemingly intention to stop. Her eyes were peaceful; "We could tell each other about our days...and maybe get to know each other better! Okay?" She smiled at him.

He didn't say anything.

Flashback

_"All friends should have a secret hiding place!" The girl grinned as she sat on a cherry blossom tree, looking down at Sasuke._

_"What's that?" He asked, making his way up._

_She smiled dreamily, "It's a place of our own. Where we only share secrets here, and everything we hide inside."_

End of Flashback

_Who is she?_

"Ne~ Can I tell you something?" She looked at him gently.

He didn't answer, so she continued on. "Yesterday, there was someone who said they wanted to be friends with me. I really, really, really surprised. But I was happy too!" She looked at him gratefully, "Sometimes, I think I should thank you...I don't know why, but I'm really, really happy that I met you. That somehow...because of you...everything for me is different now..."

"Do you feel that way too?"

Yes.

Yes he did.

Since he met her, she caused him all sorts of trouble.

He started caring.

He started getting friends.

He started to regret being alone.

But was he brave enough to say it?

No.

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He arrived at the library at 8:30am sharp, since that's where the competition was taking place. He joined his team but there wasn't any use of doing so, since nobody spoke.

First test was the written one, which took 40 minutes for 45 questions. Sasuke breezed through it easily, but as always, he noticed Tenten. For her, it seemed even easier, since she did it within 15 minutes. However, her eyes weren't even smug like Karin's if she had done the same. They were still serious, without emotion.

After a series of written tests came the one on one buzzer round. The Konezuku High School took down other competitors from other schools round by round. Sasuke took down each of his opponents without difficulty. But by the second to last round, Shikamaru dropped out on purpose out of laziness, causing Asuma to become ticked off as he went off into the audience to sleep.

Now it was Sasuke and Tenten.

It didn't matter who won really. No matter what, their school would win. But it mattered to Sasuke. And it seemed to matter to Tenten as well.

The proctor stated a question involving advanced trigonometry and Sasuke began using scratch paper.

But Tenten froze, her eyes shaking. Her hand stayed still over the paper, as if afraid to even try solving the problem. As if something ghostly wrong was with it.

There was something wrong, Sasuke knew it. She would've answer a question like this in a second. What was going on?

He thought he heard Neji's voice whisper, "Oh shoot, not this question."

But he reached his answer and pressed the buzzer.

"Forty-five point four degrees."

"Correct."

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"Wow! Sugoi*! Uchiha-kun! You're so amazing!" Sakura gushed, still excited over the competition from two hours ago.

The team including some friends celebrated at a restaurant nearby, and now after a series of glass clinking and congratulations, everyone was heading home. Sakura followed Sasuke as still was repeating everything amazing she saw.

He was pretty proud of himself too. He had beat Tenten, the school genius. Now he was the best. Good. That was how it was supposed to be. Uchihas were always meant to be the best.

But something felt wrong.

Tenten didn't join the team in the victory party. Sasuke would understand that, since she was probably too crushed to join.

But that wasn't it. It was how she acted during the problem.

Neji seemed concerned about it too, but didn't tell him anything. He seemed to know something about her that he didn't.

"Uchiha-kun? Uchiha-kun?" She waved a hand in front of his face, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." They had arrived at Sakura's house, "I just forgot something at the library."

"Oh, okay! Well, you were still really, really, really, really-

He sighed, if he didn't stop her, then she could go on for hours, "Good night."

He walked away.

The library was quiet, despite its loud, crowded activity from before. It was only the ticking of the clock that echoed the room. He silently made his way to where the exam rooms were to get his backpack, which he had left on a chair.

Then he heard a hiccup. He realized he wasn't the only one in the building.

Right before him in the exam room, sitting on the ground was Tenten, furiously writing on papers. Tears soaked each one, and her eyes were so watery, that it didn't seem like she could see anymore. But she still kept on writing.

Whole notepads filled with the same equation- the one she messed up against Sasuke- surrounded her.

She had been writing since the competition was over.

Her clothes were disheveled; her black hair was falling out; her cheeks chap and dry with so many tears. Yet she was still crying, tears pouring from her eyes as her wrist continued writing the same equation over and over again: Sin x...sin x + 20...

He stopped her, holding her wrist still.

Then he heard what she had been whispering in a ragged and hiccupping voice all along:

"I don't deserve to live."

"I am a horrible girl."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry."

* * *

A/N: Yeah, I know, I added quite a bit of new characters in. Some of them aren't all that important...I just felt like sticking more Naruto characters in...teehee.

I also stuck in more SakuraxSasuke moments, they'll start appearing up more often, it does become SakuraxSasuke in the end. Now that they have that 'secret hiding place' Sasuke will be interacting more with her about other girl's problems.

Vocab:

Sugoi- Amazing

Tsuyoiki- A college name I made up. Literally means: "Strong Tree"

Characters:

Suigetsu- Fourth place on the math team, he's the only guy who can shut Karin up.

Haku- Fifth place on the team, he doesn't like to fight and hates loud noises.

Morino Ibiki- A Calculus III teacher at Tsuyoiki college, he is known for being strict and scary.

Okie Dokies, that's all for now! Comment!


	9. Perfection, Desolation

**Chapter 9: Perfection; Desolation**

The street flickered, framing the edges of the silent pavement in the suburban section of town. A veil of gray suspended over the ground, turning the sky midnight black and other shapes an even darker shade of onyx. Everything was still, with no one walking outside at an hour past midnight.

Except for two shadows by the side of the barren road.

The ashen light cast a shaft of yellow down on Sasuke, showing his face that lacked emotion as he stood facing the silent shadow sitting on the bench.

The figure showed no sign of acknowledging his presence. Her arms were slack by her side, almost like an abandoned doll- torn, small, and lost. Nothing seemed to matter, nothing seemed to exist.

Sasuke inwardly sighed (it was starting to become a habit of his). He always seemed to get himself stuck in odd situations. He could just leave her, but somehow, he decided that it wouldn't be a great idea. Leaving a girl alone in the streets at night would cause some problems. Especially if someone found out it was him that left her there.

It's not like he cared about her as a person-at least that was what he was trying to convince himself. If he could, he would've left her to be, it was her problem if she wanted to sit there like a dead person. He just didn't want that nagging feeling harassing him for the rest of the night- the one that kept on reoccurring ever since he moved here. And he knew that feeling would bother him again if he just walked away.

He flipped open his cellphone and set it on the GPS system. "Address." His question was turned into a tone of command.

She didn't reply. She couldn't hear him. She couldn't see him. Her umber eyes were lifeless- they could've been two never-ending holes that lead to nowhere: no happiness, no sadness.

He didn't buy it. Even if there were bags under her eyes from reading text all day, her hair was falling out into a mess, and the tears that were on her cheeks were causing them to become chap.

But what could he do about it? He wasn't going to force an answer out of her; that would be stupid and degrading. So he chose to stand there and wait. Nobody had an ever lasting supply of patience.

So two shadows were still in the cold night.

Until a girl's voice cut through the dead stillness. "You don't need to walk me back."

He looked at his cellphone. Forty-five minutes. Wow. She could stay still for quite an impressive amount of time. Now what was he supposed to say? This was awkward. "But then you would stay here."

"Yes."

Okay. That was a blunt answer, he had been expecting an explanation. Somehow, the way she spoke was intimidating-even he would admit it to himself. It seemed cold, but it wasn't, because he knew what cold voices sounded like and that wasn't it. It was more like...

Flat.

Like there was nothing inside her. Almost mechanical.

_Whatever, that's not my problem. I just need to get her home. _"So that's the problem, I can't leave a girl out here to freeze."

She let their conversation die out to the overpowering silence. And then she spoke again, chilling the mood. "I deserve to freeze."

Hearing that flickered a surge of aggravation in him. Here she was, acing in every advanced (more like advanced, advanced) class and competitions, beating even him (he knew it was true, he just didn't like it). And yet she makes one mistake, and now it's like she wants to kill herself.

He hated people with perfection, and people who can't handle imperfection. Because life wasn't perfect, and he knew it. Who knew it better than him?

This girl sitting in front of him made the tiniest mistake, the tiniest mess up in her life- just a freeze up in math- compared to him.

This was stupid. She was being a sore-loser.

"Everyone messes up."

He wasn't sure if he even said that, because she didn't respond. But she stood up and walked by him, leaving him behind.

And then, she left him with few simple words.

"A person like me can't afford mistakes."

He made sure that she got to her house, because something told him that if he just left her on her own, she would've ran off and sit regretfully somewhere else. But it turned out that she did have a house, a normal one too.

The way she was making her way down the street like a ghost made it seem like every light footstep was taking her closer to some sort of punishment.

Like some sort of spirit, she made her way to the front steps and Sasuke rung the doorbell for her, just in case she ran away at the last second.

Flashback

_"Daddy! Daddy! I'm sorry okay??!!" Sasuke's small fists pounded the door._

_But it was no use, it was locked. And there was no shadow inside showing any sign of welcoming him back in. _

_Each strike made his palms hurt, he could feel them getting weaker._

_"Daddy?" His voice grew smaller from screaming and crying so much._

_Each drop of the heavy rain hit him like a knife, as if the storm was here to punish him only. Thunder split the dark clouds, flashing light over the crumpled paper next to Sasuke..._

_Showing the 99% on his test._

_"Daddy? Please?!!" He was cold. The rain and his tears streaked his face. _

_He gave up, sliding down to his knees and letting the rain humiliate him._

_It wasn't until daybreak when the door creaked open._

_Sasuke's red eyes looked up to the tall figure: his father._

_"Are you ready to improve?"_

End of Flashback.

Maybe she was like him. But she was near perfect, closer than he was.

She didn't deserve any punishment. She wasn't part of any clan, she was normal. She shouldn't have any type of burden like that.

But the man who answered the door didn't look like his father at all. He seemed tired, exhausted from worry. He seemed...nice.

"Tenten-chan...how did it-

She walked past him and whispered in her same, dislocated voice. "I don't deserve your words of kindness." And she went upstairs, forgetting to thank Sasuke.

Her father thanked Sasuke for her, "Ah..." He seemed lost at how to explain his daughter's actions. "Thank you so much for walking my daughter here." The statement of: "I was so worried." didn't need to be said, for it was implied. The wrinkles that aged his face showed his concern for his daughter, but his brown eyes showed that he cared.

"It's a pleasure to meet such a young man like you. And you are...?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

He nodded and smiled while shaking his hand. "Pleased to meet you Uchiha-kun. I'm Tenten-chan's father."

Discomfited silence fell over them. But then the man took a step aside and bowed over slightly as a sign of politeness. "Please, do come in."

Sasuke found it rude to refuse his offer. There was something in his russet eyes that seemed so pleading and hopeful that he didn't want to let him down. He felt like he would bring him to some sort of depth of loneliness if he walked away.

But why should he care?

Yet he looked at the ground, and saw his feet walk in.

_It's since I have nothing to do. _He told himself to think. He gave himself his own excuse, because in reality, he wasn't sure himself.

"Please, have a seat."

Sasuke was surprised how neat the whole house was. He found himself wondering how the family had the time to keep it clean; Tenten seemed too busy with all her extra effort in school, and her father seemed so old and tired. Yet here was her father right now, waiting for his daughter to the extent of early morning even though he looked like he needed more rest.

He sat down on the sofa as the tea was set on the table. Tenten's father took a seat across from him. Sasuke didn't have anything to say, so he stared into his cup of tea.

"Ah...this is unusual. Tenten-chan rarely brings friends home anymore." His voice seemed like one that was strong before, but weakening of age. However, he seemed slightly glad that he was meeting someone at his daughter's school.

Sasuke considered saying that he wasn't Tenten's friend, but didn't get a chance to since the man continued talking. "She really is a very friendly girl...just..." His eyes looked sad, "very busy."

Then he looked up from his tea to Sasuke, "How are her friends though?"

Sasuke thought about it. When he did, he realized, every time he saw Tenten, she was either studying or reading alone. If she talked to anyone, it was only polite, like she wasn't close to anyone in particular. Surprisingly enough, a perfect girl like her didn't have any friends.

If he told him the truth, he felt like he would crush the little unknown hope in him. So he only shrugged.

But he could tell. And his smiled only seemed a bit disappointed, although his eyes showed much more. "Ah...but you are a friend, right?"

Sasuke looked at the clock hanging above the television and saw it was 3:00am. He stood up and thanked him, not answering his question. His excuse was that it was getting late, but it was really that he didn't have the heart to say no.

He was walked out the door and gave a curt nod before turning away.

He didn't have any friends.

Not any close ones.

"Ah, Uchiha-kun?"

He stopped.

"If you could..."

"Could you be Tenten-chan's friend?"

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_Is everyone in this town this annoying? _Sasuke's head was frustratingly full of thoughts. It was as if part of him was still stuck back in Saturday night, and he shouldn't have been. Because he didn't care.

Tenten was _not _his problem.

Yet he was still thinking about her father.

When he first met her, he thought he might have been like him. Maybe her parents expected her to be the best. And she was, with that night as an exception.

But her father still seemed to care. He sympathized. He looked like he would've congratulated her no matter what.

So why burden herself with perfection?

He shut his locker and turned around to have huge green eyes in his sight only an inch away. He backed up in surprise and hit his head on the metal locker. _Damnit!_

Sakura drew back and sheepishly giggled, "Hehe~ you seemed really spacey..." Then she saw the annoyed look on his face as he rubbed his head, "Are you hurt?"

"No." He felt a slight temperature rise in his face. _Did I get sick? _He knew he wasn't though.

"So, so! Guess!" She bounced up and down.

He sighed, "What?"

"I got a 94 on my science test!" She beamed proudly.

He nodded his congratulations to her, although he wasn't sure why. A 94 to him was nothing, yet it was something to her.

"But I think I'm going to need more help later in science...so I think I'm going to ask for a student tutor..." She babbled on.

They walked past the bulletin board where clippings of newspapers mobbed the board. Sasuke saw his picture near the center, but surprisingly, it wasn't the biggest news.

Right at the very middle was a framed color picture of an Asian girl dressed in white and black concert dress, holding a violin next to a huge trophy. In the background was everyone clapping, and it was expected that she smiled.

She did. Except her eyes.

Her eyes were blank.

_Tenten. _

He found himself reading the article from a far distance; he didn't want to seem too interested.

_Caption: Yin Tenten, age 17, of Konzuku High school, 1__st__ place in the National Orchestral Musicians Competition as of Friday._

Apparently, her performance was very last, making it at 12am. Friday was also the day before the math competition.

_She went to both?_ Sasuke looked behind him and saw a group of girls congratulating Tenten. If she had gone to both, then no wonder she lost focus on the last round, she would've been exhausted. She could've chosen one or the other, why do both?

He looked back at the picture again and saw the familiarity that was bothering him.

_The violinist! _

She was the one who was playing throughout the whole night.

"She's done more. This is just another normal thing for her."

Sasuke saw Neji next to him. He shrugged and walked towards homeroom. In a way, it was embarrassing getting caught interested in someone else's life.

But then a question slipped out of his mouth, "It's always been like this for her?"

Neji's answer wasn't what he expected.

"No."

"There used to be a time when she was normal."

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"Yo, Uchiha, got a moment?"

Sasuke shut his locker and saw Suigetsu leaning against the locker next to him.

"Some reporters want to interview you." He smirked, "Have fun."

Karin snorted as Sasuke walked to the clubroom, "Don't get it over your head though, you just got lucky."

He already knew that. "Is it manditory?"

Suigetsu raised an eyebrow and grinned, "It depends. Do you want reporter chicks stalking you for the rest of the month?"

Sasuke sighed, might as well get it over with.

As soon as he walked into the room, he found that Suigetsu wasn't really joking about reporters stalking him. When he slid open the door, cameras and microphones were shoved in his face, along with questions.

"How did you feel taking first place over two time winner Yin Tenten?"

"Where is Yin-san?"

The last question seemed to be the more commonly asked one, despite the fact that he was the one who won. The reporters continued to bother Asuma about Tenten and he grimaced, knowing that they would've leave until they got a chance to annoy her as well.

He looked over the sea of heads and mouthed to Sasuke, "Uchiha-kun, could you find Yin-chan?"

He agreed and walked out, glad to escape just for a while from the war of questions. Taking his time walking in the hallway, he weaved through the body of students trying to find Tenten.

"Hey, Tenten-chan, are you busy tonight? Maybe you could catch a movie with us!" Sasuke saw two girls giving an invitation to Tenten.

_Maybe those are her-_

"Thank you. But I'm busy tonight." She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Oh." The girls didn't seem that disappointed.

He walked over and called out, "Hey."

She turned and Sasuke saw just a flicker of something in her eyes, something that made her seem more alive. Was it annoyance?

"Hello." She smiled mechanically.

Sasuke wasn't stupid, something told him that she wasn't happy to see him. He didn't know why, but that was her problem. "Asuma needs you in the math room, there some reporters."

"Is it necessary?"

"Aren't you used to it by now?" Well, he didn't blame her, he didn't think he would ever get used to it if he was her. "And they probably want to interview you more about that violin competition." He looked for a reaction on her face as he added on, "The one where you spent all night practicing."

She looked him in the eyes and a small spark of what he thought could've been irritation appeared. She said in a cold voice, "I don't believe that's your business."

That took him by surprise. He smirked, _looks like she does have something living in there after all._

But it wasn't like he was trying to change her. No. It was just, amusing. Or that's what he was trying to tell himself.

She saw his smirk and recovered, turning back on the dull courteousness in her voice. "Could you tell them I'm busy?"

"Sure, good idea." He left the school with her.

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Sasuke found himself lead to the library by Tenten, who ignored him the whole way there. The librarian seemed to already know that it was her and didn't bother looking up from her huge book at the front desk. Tenten made her way to the back table and sat down, taking out an encyclopedia of history.

Sasuke peered over her shoulder and saw that she had the thick text halfway memorized. And it was the fourth volume as well.

"I thought you said you were busy."

"I did." She flipped the page.

"But you seem like you do this everyday." Sasuke observed. He found it odd; why would she decline the offer?

"I do."

"So isn't this a free block?"

She knew where he was going with this and answered his question. "No. Leisure gets me nowhere." Then she paused and made a small whisper to herself, "I won't let oto-san down too."

He didn't hear her last comment and went off to the newspaper section.

_**"There used to be a time when she was normal."**_

He was curious; What was she like before? Before she was like this?

He flipped through past newspapers and counted all the times Tenten's name showed up black and white.

Too many.

It almost seemed impossible. People needed time. Time to laugh. Time to enjoy themselves. Time to relax. Did she have any of that?

Or was she too busy? Too busy being perfect.

If she wasn't like this before, then what happened?

_June 13_

_Yin Wanmei revealed to be dead, committing suicide. Also known to be wife of Yin Guang Rong, and mother of Yin Tenten..._

Maybe she was more like him than he thought.

Flashback

_"Please Oka-san? Can I play with ______? She said it was okay! Please?" Sasuke tugged his mother's apron and looked up at her with huge, pleading eyes. She smiled, "Alright-_

_"No." _

_Sasuke looked at his father, who entered the room._

_"You are not to waste time on such silly things."_

_"You are an Uchiha, don't shame your family by wasting time."_

End of Flashback

He laughed inside, somewhat scorning his father when he remembered his last memory. _What would he do if he saw me now?_

Then he stiffened as he thought about it more. _Nothing, since I'm not doing anything wrong. _

_This isn't a waste of time...They have nothing to do with me anyway._

_I'm just..._

He didn't know what he was doing.

He walked down the city streets, lights flickering across the pavement as he walked over them. Stores hung flashing signs, drawing circles of different colors onto surfaces of night-shadowed objects. Cars passed by streetlights, which brought more brightness to push back the darkness of the sky.

Sasuke passed by a huge toy store and peered into it. There was a huge poster on the wall announcing an anime convention coming up in the spring.

"Ah, Uchiha-kun!" Tenten's father walked up to him, with a toyshop bag in his hand. Sasuke noticed that inside was a gift box.

"Konbanwa."

Tenten's father noticed him observing the bag and smiled. He seemed more tired than ever.

"Ah, I'm planning on giving Tenten-chan a surprise party. She'd like that, right?" He gave a weak smile, but like his daughter, they didn't seem to reach his eyes. Instead, his eyes showed doubt. But he clung on with a hopeful voice; the kind where he wanted to believe his own words, but he knew he was wrong. "I bought her one of those cartoon dolls she used to love...She'll be happy, right?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. The truth would've hurt him too much. He knew that Tenten wouldn't enjoy the party.

"She works so hard these days..."

She was lucky. Her father wanted to give her a party, rather than going against it. That came as an odd idea to Sasuke. Most parents would've found a teenage party bothersome. Yet Tenten's father wanted one. For her.

"Ah, Uchiha-kun...Would you mind sending out the invitations to her friends?" He held out a stack of white envelopes.

_He's worried..._Sasuke realized. _He wants her to relax..._

_He wants to see her smile._

Lucky. She had the father he never had. One who actually cared about _her_. Not what she _did_.

But Tenten wanted the best for her father...so for him, she hated parties to spare him the trouble. She denied herself all the laughter and chances of being a child.

_What's this feeling..._Sasuke tugged his shirt by his chest. He understood the situation...why was he feeling this way?

This crushing feeling inside him?

What was it?

Whatever it was, it took over him, causing him to say, "Yeah. I will."

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Sasuke walked out of AP Chemistry and past the large set of windows that opened a view to the courtyard outside. He walked up down a flight of stairs to the junior locker floor and lost himself in the stampede of older students.

"Anyway...So I just went to the mall yesterday and..."

"Oh. My. God. No way!..."

A group of girls crossed by, one of them caught Sasuke's eye and winked, blowing a kiss. Sasuke ignored it. _Some things don't change when people grow older. _Girls were still stupid.

Sasuke forced himself to walk over.

"Pst. Hey...I think the new guy is gonna make a move on you..." He heard one girl whisper to another girl in orange-brown long hair.

The girl flipped her hair back and looked at Sasuke. "You're the new sophmore everyone's been talking about, right? I've heard a lot about you."

The other girl giggled, "Too bad though. Sasame-chan already has a waiting line, kid!"

The girl, which Sasuke assumed was named Sasame, looked back at her friend and glared at her. "Anyway, may I help you? Most guys like you don't have the nerve to come down here."

He handed her an envelope. "You know her, right?"

Her other friends eagerly opened their invitations and then looked at the card in disappointment. They were hoping it was a party from him.

Sasame looked at it surprised, "You sure it's Tenten?"

Judging by the look on her face, Sasuke could tell that Tenten wasn't considered social at all. "Yeah."

She plastered a fake smile on her face, "Um...I'll check if I have time..."

Sasuke wasn't stupid, he could tell she probably wasn't going.

It was the same with all the other groups of students. They all seemed to not believe that Tenten was actually throwing a party. And they all looked uncomfortable as they said they would try to be there.

None of the students he talked to seemed to know her well. Nor did they seem to be close to her. Sasuke couldn't blame them.

She didn't show any likes.

She didn't show any feelings.

She didn't show any of herself.

So who was there to know?

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Flashback

"My oka-san's taking me this weekend to the candy shop!"

_"My oto-san's taking me to go fishing!"_

_A pink haired girl, who was also in the eager conversation of where their parents were taking them over the weekend, noticed Sasuke drawing lonely circles on the ground away from the group. She walked over and held out a hand. Sasuke looked up._

_"Ne, Sasu-chan, what are you doing over the weekend?"_

_"Work."_

_She looked at him, innocently confused. She asked him with her head tilted, "But that's not fun. Why?"_

_He looked down and a shadow cast over his eyes. He hid his tears as he clamped his eyes shut. _

_"My oto-san said that fun is all just a waste of time."_

End of Flashback.

3:00pm, Tenten's party would've started by now.

Was she enjoying it?

No. He firmly told himself as he looked up at the white ceiling. I don't care.

_But you do..._A whisper in his head trailed. That voice had been in him since he came to this town. Somehow, it had been born...and had been created to frustrate Sasuke, making him think that it was telling the truth.

But it wasn't.

Was it?

He cared, because maybe, he couldn't bear to see someone so much like him. Her goals were perfect: to bring pride to her father. Her outlook was perfect; admired by everyone. Everything she did was perfect; she bested everyone and everything

Yet it wasn't like she was born with it, this gift called perfection. Sasuke knew how long she worked. Her whole day was spent studying and practicing, with no break.

After school she would go right to the library and study, or she would be in some sort of extracurricular activity that would help for college. And she would practice violin at night for many hours. She never complained either.

She was almost like, the child that his father would've wanted him to be.

But he wasn't jealous anymore.

Why wasn't he?

Someone like her, to have everything her father wanted him to have when he was a kid. Someone like her, to have everything he lacked that caused him all the isolation of other friends...

The feeling he had when he saw her, it wasn't jealousy.

It was sympathy.

He got up from his bed and walked out his apartment.

He walked to Kazari Drive, near the more middle-class suburban neighborhood, east of downtown. He looked at the extra invitation card he kept and stopped at the fourth mailbox. Walking up the long driveway, he found his way to the house he had walked Tenten to a week before.

He knocked on the front door. Seeing that no one answered and the door was unlocked, he walked in.

The door clicked shut behind him, and the house had a lonely, darkness cast over it. Although some of it was caused by the fact that the sun was setting, Sasuke could sense something else in it.

He couldn't help but notice again that the house seemed untouched. The wood floor beneath him seemed newly polished, but he knew it was washed very carefully. Every little ornament was placed perfectly, with nothing off center. There was nothing homely about the rooms.

Somehow, the whole unusual neatness made him feel awkward. Even the small ticking of the clocks seemed loud in the house. Echoing off the walls. He went through the light-deprived hallways to the very end, where a glass back door was cautiously wiped that it seemed like there was nothing between him and the backyard.

Sliding the door open, he continued down the backyard path, where the plants there were remarkably symmetrical.

The very center square piece of the yard was framed with balloons, all perfectly lined. The banner was lined above and the words read: Congratulations! Tables of sweets that appeared to have taken days of tedious cooking were set on one side.

Everything seemed so carefully planned. As if the person setting up cared dearly.

But no matter how flawless the party seemed, it still lacked something.

People.

Besides Tenten sitting with a huge cake in front of her, and her father standing behind her, Sasuke was standing before an empty yard.

* * *

A/N: This chapter took a longer while to write. I kept on changing the events and remaking them, but I got annoyed so I just decided to keep on writing and then just leave it once I thought I was done.

If any of you are confused, feel free to ask me anything. I'll edit it if I get too many negative comments.

Vocab:

Kazari- Ornament. It's just a random name I thought up of for a street.

The rest of the words I've used before. I'm too lazy to rewrite them.

Characters:

Sasame- A popular girl in her junior year. In the real Naruto anime, she's a girl of the Fuuma clan.

Comments, feedback, anything that'll give you an excuse to write a review please?!!!?!


	10. Flawless, Lifeless

**Chapter 10: Flawless; Lifeless**

The wind blew, chilling the air as the sky started to blacken.

Yet it was still only Tenten sitting in the chair. She stared blankly at the white frosted cake in front of her, as if her steeled brown eyes couldn't see. Her face was frozen, her mouth set in the unsmiling, un-frowning position. It would've been impossible to tell whether or not she was happy. Or sad.

From Sasuke's view, she was almost like a doll. One of those rag dolls. The ones that he would see on the window displays in old toy stores; the ones that would always scare him on the inside. It would be the pretty dolls every girl loved, sewn perfectly, yet laying limply. When he would walk by, its button eyes would stare at some sort of void, showing the nothingness inside. There would always be no mouth sewn on. Nothing to show any emotion. It felt whatever you wanted it to feel.

It was happy when you were happy.

It was sad when you wanted it to be sad.

For that reason, everyone loved them.

Except for Sasuke.

"Maybe, they were all busy today. I should've sent the cards out earlier." Tenten's father shook his head and gripped the top edge of his daughter's chair tighter. He forced a smile, "I'm sorry...it's my fault-

"Ie." She stood up, pushing the char aside with a loud creak. "It's fine."

With her back still to her father, she turned and was about to walk off, but her father reached out to put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Tenten-chan-

She knocked his hand away and whipped around. For only the shortest moment, there was a flame of auburn showing in her eyes. Flaming to cause her father so much trouble. Burning to have wasted time that could've been used to be mort perfect than she already was. Blazing to have had her hopes risen just the slightest bit by having a chance to let go...and have that hope crushed.

But the fire inside her died down quickly, and she locked it up again. She gave a fleeting smile, with a robotic smile that wasn't really hers, only for her father. "It was the best party I ever had."

She walked back into the house and started cleaning the kitchen, leaving her father in the midst of the isolated yard that was supposed to be filled with people.

Sasuke walked over and saw him sat down in the chair. Looking at him closer, Sasuke never realized until now how young he still was; it was only all the worry that wore down his face and sapped the energy from him. He looked exhausted, and all of it was from caring.

He put his hands to his head and looked down on the table, muttering to himself. "It's all my fault...I pushed her too hard...it doesn't matter if she isn't good...I want her back..."

Cracked with desperation and weakened with a lonely sorrow, even Sasuke could tell that it was hardly a voice of a proud parent.

But he should've been. He had a perfect daughter. She did whatever a parent would want their child to do, and she did it flawlessly. She said and thought the way a parent would want their child to think. She worked hard, harder than anyone else he had ever seen. She spent her whole time working to give another reason to make her father proud.

He only wanted her to be happy now. Truly happy, not happy to make him happy. Not happy for anyone, but herself.

He looked through the windows of the house and saw her starting to cook her dinner. _She's the one doing the housework..._He walked back into the house and watched her distantly clean a spoon.

"He'd be happier if you were yourself."

A sudden dull hatred spread like poison in her blood as she looked down at her hands.

"That person shamed someone to death."

__

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14 year old Konezuku High School freshman, Yin Tenten, scores highest average possible in the Nationwide Mastery Test...

_13 year old Ikuwakaba Middle School student, Yin Tenten, wins the very first Young Teenager's Awareness of Energy- a science and math project competition..._

_11 year old Yin Tenten takes top seat in the Young Professional's Orchestra after an astounding performance..._

Sasuke lost count on all the online articles on her. He sat at his desk with his hand on the mouse, the arrow hovering over the 'next' button on the search engine. The pale light coming from the screen reflected in his dark eyes as the room around him was unlighted.

But after more bits of searching, Sasuke was able to find the pattern between the articles.

_**"There used to be a time when she was normal."**_

_There's nothing about her from before she turned 11..._ Sasuke scanned the page. He saw that he was right. None of the articles had anything about an eleven year old Tenten.

_That doesn't make any sense..._ Even Sasuke knew that a person couldn't wake up one day and suddenly become so...preoccupied in perfection. But he continued scrolling down the pages and quickly checked through the sites.

Then he found an article online dated six years ago.

He read over the page and found it to be the first page unrelated to Tenten. But it was about her mother instead.

Suddenly he remembered the last newspaper article he had read.

Flashback

June 13

_Yin Wanmei revealed to be dead, committing suicide. Also known to be wife of Yin Guang Rong, and mother of Yin Tenten..._

End of Flashback

That was when he decided that there was more to Tenten than what met the eyes.

And he was going to find out what.

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Silence, so silent that only the rustle of snow being shaken from branches could be heard. In a way, the silence lullabied something sweet and soft. Sasuke almost enjoyed it.

He looked up and saw little flakes of stars, as if permanent snowflakes in the sky. And then he found something- someone- else in his view.

"Konbanwa*~ Uchiha-kun!" An upside-down Sakura greeted him.

He realized how close she was to his face, but calmly replied, "It's a bit late."

"Aw~" She pouted, "I didn't scare you- Eek!"

She fell, but not quick enough so that Sasuke's reflexes didn't kick in to save her. He found her over his shoulders and was faintly amused at her shut eyes still preparing for the fall. She opened an eye and looked behind her, she sighed in relief seeing that she was saved. But then she realized who was holding her and laughed sheepishly, "Whoopsy..."

He sighed, hiding his embarrassment and the slight heat in his face. _I just stopped her from getting hurt, that's all._ He let her down and made sure she was the one going first up the tree.

"She's playing a new song today." She smiled and closed her eyes. "I like this one."

He didn't say anything. Suddenly, he didn't feel as if the music was really showing anything. Sure, it hit the right pitches and seemed to be perfectly in time. But something was missing. Expression.

Maybe it was because he knew that the violinist was Tenten.

"Ne~! Know what? I signed up for a science tutor!" She looked at him and smiled, "I guess since Sasuke-kun won the math contest, I should try harder too! To achieve my goals!" She made a cute "fighto*" movement.

He made no comment.

She leaned over and looked at him questioningly, "What about you, Sasuke-kun? What do you want to do?"

To avenge his family.

To make his family happy.

To be perfect.

That was what he would've said a few months ago. But now, he wasn't so sure. After these few months, perfect didn't seem so great to him anymore. Because if he was perfect...would he be like Tenten?

"Would you want to be perfect?" He found himself asking her for help.

"Hmm~" She seemed to have put some thought into it, putting a finger to her lip. Then she shook her head slowly, "I don't think so. Because," A gentle look appeared over her eyes, "what we can't do makes up part of us, it creates who we are. And if I were perfect," She smiled, "then I wouldn't get to be me."

Then she looked down and a sheen color of sadness came over her eyes.

"And that would be very sad, wouldn't it?"

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Snow was beginning to melt, while small patches of grass were beginning to fight their way through the shawl of white. The transition from winter to spring is always the wettest one, so the students of Konezuku High School usually prefered to stay in the cafeteria.

But Sasuke and his group were one of the few students who did not take their time off from classes inside. Instead, one of them would bring a picnic blanket for them to sit on underneath the same large tree everyday. The group was pretty big; not only did it consisted of the original four, but Neji joined them daily now as well as Kiba and once and a while, Shino too. Sasuke's math team friends came to join occasionally, this included Karin, who enjoyed to bug (the hell) out of Sasuke with Suigetsu and Haku to monitor the amount of violence. Ino popped in and out, usually only to talk to Sasuke, but only when she wasn't busy with her popular life around the school.

They didn't know why they liked to be outside better, the only excuse they would have is that Naruto would most likely stir up too much of a noise inside.

Sasuke was starting to grow used to having more people around him, gradually growing more social. But he was surprised to find Tenten sitting next to Sakura with Sakura leaning over a book, trying to study with enthusiasm. He noticed Sakura look up and exclaim something with a proud smile, Tenten nodded with polite encouragement.

Tenten was the first to notice Sasuke was observing them from the distance. Sakura waved him over and introduced the two, clueless. "Hiyas Uchiha-kun! Guess what? I have a really nice tutor now!" She beamed at Tenten, "Uchiha-kun, this is-

"Yin Tenten. We've met." He finished.

Sakura looked back and forth between the two curiously and then giggled. Tenten looked at her with questioning, blank eyes.

"See Tenten-sensei-chan*? I told you you are famous!"

Tenten shook her head courteously and replied in an empty tone, "Haruno-san can do the same if she works hard."

"But ne~ Tenten-sensei-chan, you must work really, really hard!" Sakura insisted.

Tenten looked at her lap and Sasuke saw her mouth a near-silent whisper, "Not enough..."

Sasuke felt his mouth tighten at the sound of her whisper. He wanted to tell her that she was already doing enough. He wanted to tell her that all her father really wanted was for her to be herself again, that perfect wasn't what he wanted.

Sakura didn't seem to hear what Tenten said and tilted her head. "Hmm~?"

Before Sasuke could say anything, Neji was already walking up to them with his briefcase slung over his shoulders. "Hey Uchiha, Haruno." Then, he noticed Tenten still looking down at her lap, not meeting his eyes. He nodded at her anyway, "Yin-chan."

Time seemed to have frozen between the two as Neji continued to hold his shadowy gaze and Tenten continued to look away from him with a dark lament in her empty eyes.

Like always, Naruto broke the uneven silence with his entrance. "Hey! There's a new girl?!! I wanna meet the new- Hey! Aren't you the genius-girl?! You know, the one that everyone says has no fri-

Shikamaru clamped his mouth in time and entered the conversation, "Pay no mind to him, Yin," He hooked an arm around Naruto's neck and pulled him closer to him, with a tight, threatening smile growing on his face, "He just has a bit of a problem being sane, don't we?"

Naruto was close to choking and nodded.

If Tenten was insulted in any way, she didn't show it. She only politely smiled and introduced herself. "Hajimemashite*, I'm Yin Tenten."

Sakura giggled and waved it off with a hand, "You're always so polite, Tenten-sensei-chan!"

"Is there something wrong with that?" She looked confused in her own, blank way.

Sakura shook her head in a friendly way, "Nope! It's just that, you don't have to! We're all friends after all! Right?" She tipped her head to one side.

"Tomo...datchi..."* Despite the fact that Tenten was known to be the student in the school to know the most about anything, she didn't seem to know much about the one simplest thing that everyone else knew about: Friends.

Slowly, Tenten started to blend in among the group. She was quiet, and never seemed to have an opinion even if everyone would look for her thoughts. Mostly, they all felt that Tenten was simply too shy and polite to express herself in a bold way like Naruto would. But Sasuke knew differently. He knew that she had abandoned her personal feelings a long time ago; she no longer had anything inside that was her own.

But despite how dull, how lifeless Tenten was compared to the others, Sakura adored her. Everyday, she would drag Sasuke along to the juniors' floor, skipping her way to Tenten's last class before lunch and showing how excited she was to have Tenten tutor her. Under the tree, she would show quick improvement and ask many questions, forcing Tenten to smile each time. It was then where Sasuke would see Tenten smile the most. It was where he would see not her perfect self, but _her_.

One day, after finishing a packet of science problems, Sakura looked up curiously and asked Tenten, "Ne~ Tenten-sensei-chan, what kinds of things do you like?"

Sasuke brought his attention from his book to the conversation without looking up. He heard Tenten hesitate, and next to him he noticed Neji had paused mid-sentence in his essay.

"I...I like to study." She smiled with a robotic voice.

Sasuke noted something in Neji's eyes and wondered if Neji was thinking the same thing he was:

Was that what she really meant to say?

Or was that what she was she was supposed to say?

Sakura giggled, "No, I mean really, really! Silly"

Tenten looked down, "Really...really..."

"Anime, you liked anime." Neji muttered, as if he had finally let out only one sentence out of the million he had trapped inside.

Before Tenten could respond, the bell rung. Although Tenten was able to quickly pack up her belongings and return to class, Neji wasn't as quick. Sasuke caught up to him and pretended not to have noticed him while asking, "Is today good?"

It wasn't as if he was going to hang out with Neji for nothing, they did have a video project due in a few days anyway.

But Neji was quick enough to know that there was more to the question than the project. "Yeah, we can use my pace."

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Daylight entered in forms of white squares on the wood floor, making it conspicuous in the shadowy, empty house. Two pairs of shoes were laid out in the front hallway, showing that the house had guests.

"Do you want anything?" Neji walked into the kitchen and dropped off his briefcase on the table.

"No." Sasuke went into the living room and noticed how empty the room seemed without the framed photographs. Yet it didn't seem so stiff anymore, it actually seemed more suiting; the stuffed animals and little feminine ornaments that had newly decorated the area brought a sort of peace. He flipped one of the teddy bears over on the collection of animals on the fireplace shelf and saw a tag with a bubbly name neatly scribbled: Hinata.

Sasuke sat on the pillow at the traditional table as Neji came in with his video camera and linked it up to the television set in front of them. Neji knelt down and searched through a file cabinet of tapes, however, he pulled one out to far and a pile of cassettes fell into a heap on the ground.

Sasuke helped Neji pick them up, but not without observing each one. He noticed that each one of the cassettes was dated back at least six years ago. He picked one up labeled: Video Project, and at the bottom of the white sticker read in different handwritings: Neji (cursive), Lee (sloppy), and Tenten (thin and neat)

Neji took it from him and inserted it into the player without a word. He moved back and looked at the screen. It was slightly fuzzy from the quality of the player. But Sasuke could depict the face of a boy with square-cut bangs, black eyes, and ridiculously bushy eyebrows.

"Hello? Hello?! Testing! This is the handsome devil, Ro- OW!"

The boy's face fell out of view revealing a girl with her fist up from bonking the boy on the head. Her hair was set in two buns and her eyes showed that she was lively. "Oxymoron there, Lee. Your name and handsome can't go in a sentence together."

"Tenten that was mean!" The boy- Lee- whined. Sasuke assumed that it was him who was taking control of the video camera.

Another boy in the background snickered, his long hair tied in a ponytail and his eyes snow-pale.

"That's it Neji!" The screen now was placed on the ground, so that Sasuke could only see the feet. "I challenge you to a hundred laps around the house!"

Someone picked up the camera, showing Neji ignore Lee's determined challenge. "You're wasting our time, we're here to do a project."

"Round one. Let's watch this fascinating, once-in-a-lifetime experience where the ugly-devil faces off in an all out smack-down with the no-face genius." The video camera holder- the girl- whispered to the audience as the other two boys continued to have their one-sided argument.

"Ahem, no-faced?" Neji's voice came up into the speaker, disappearing from the screen.

The girl's voice giggled nervously, "Hah..hah...But what?! You are!"

"Okay, from now on, I'm in charge of the camera." The screen went to Tenten, who shrugged and ran further from the screen.

She stopped when she saw Lee spontaneously lifting a set of dumbbells, forty pounds each. "What. The. Crap. Do. You. Think. You're. Doing?"

"This video should at least include the heroic strength of-

"Don't say it, please don't." The girl put a hand to her forehead and sighed. She sat down on a pillow by a table, by which Sasuke had just realized was the very pillow he was sitting on right now. The whole room was the very same room he was in right now.

"Maybe, they should see my super muscles!" Suddenly the camera had a scene of someone's arm flexing.

But it only lasted a minute before the frame shook as the holder tried to walk away, and the girl's voice yelled, "Lee, gross!"

"Woa-OW!" Something hit the ground with a thunk and Lee jumped up and down, the screen shook as Neji stifled a laugh until suddenly something came flying into the way of the screen.

"LEE! YOU IDIO-

A doorbell ring was heard and there was a bit of chatter from the hallway.

"Yin-chan! Your mother's here!"

The girl looked reluctant to leave and she walked over to the hall where an elegant, Oriental woman with short, curled hair stood smiling. "Mom, can I stay for just a bit longer?"

The woman smiled, "Maybe next time, Tenten, but you have a violin lesson, remember?"

The screen went blank.

However, not for long. The next scene was dated three days later, with the same three kids as one of them held the camera to show Tenten skipping down the street in a middle school uniform down the street. She looked at the camera and waved, "Hurry up Neji!"

A sigh came from the camera.

"Neji! I challenge you to a race to Tenten's house!" And without waiting for an answer from Neji, Lee raced off.

"But Lee! My house isn't that way..." The girl trailed, but then she scoffed and waved it off with a hand, "He'll find his way back somehow, whatever. Com'on."

She led the audience up to the very same house Sasuke had led Tenten to. As they entered the door, Sasuke saw how cozily clean the house was. It seemed the same as the house now, except the floor wasn't as cleanly-polished and the furniture didn't have that same uncomfortable, untouched feeling.

They went up the stairs and down the hallway where they entered her room. It was neatly kept, yet still had a comfortable feeling to it. She sat on her bed and faced the screen, bouncing up and down on the mattress. She sighed, "We still don't have an idea yet..."

The screen made a full rotation to introduce the audience to a full view of the room. Then the camera was fixed onto the shelf over the bed, with a collection of chibi plush dolls.

She took one off, a male plush doll with a huge blue eyes and silver hair, "We can make a play outta my plush dolls! Starring..." She squealed, "My Hitsugaya*!!!!"

The voice sighed, "No."

She carefully placed him back with the other dolls, "Fine, fine...But we still need an idea." She stepped on a sheet of paper and picked it up, observing it. From afar, Sasuke could see it was a test grade. "Oh yeah...it was the 94 I got from math..." She laughed sheepishly, "My mom freaked about that..."

She didn't seem to mind that much, as she paced to think of something. But a crash from the doorway broke her thought process.

"I WIN- Hey!" Lee made an attempted heroic entrance, but then his mouth dropped when he saw Neji standing before him. He pointed at the screen, "How did you get here so...Two hundred pushups!" He got down on the ground and started his pushups. The screen looked down on him.

The girl stood over him and shook her head, then she looked at Neji and mouthed a whisper, "I'm not even gonna bother telling him."

The camera shook with Neji's refrained scoff.

A squeaky noise came from the corner of the room. The screen went in the direction of the noise to reveal a cage, with a small hamster running in a wheel. The camera was set onto zoom and showed the creature running quickly.

The girl's face came into view as she knelt down next to the cage and scooped up the hamster, showing it's large, shining brown eyes and fluffy white-orange fur. "Say hi to Hamtarou!!" She winked.

"Hey!" Lee huffed from the distance, no longer in the screen, "Are you witnessing my power?"

"Uh...if you the truth, then no." The Asian girl rolled her eyes. "Lee, I bet Hamtarou can beat you!" Then she snapped her fingers, "I know! We'll make an obstacle course for Hamtarou!"

After making a complicated course consisting of everyday items, she set the hamster down on the floor and coaxed it. "Com'on Hammy...You can do it!"

"Done! Did you witness it! Huh?" Lee's breathless voice boomed into the screen and the whole camera went haywire. Even with the screen tilted and fallen on the ground, Sasuke saw that a pair of feet had knocked over the obstacle course, allowing the hamster to escape.

"LEE! LOOK WHAT YOU-"

Black and white lines overcame the television.

Sasuke knew it was over. The whole videotape had nothing to do with the video project he was doing right now, but he didn't care. Neji had planned to show him this the moment he invited him over. He sat in silence, waiting for Neji to say something.

Neji turned the television off with a click of the button on the remote. His pale eyes had a shadow cast over them, partially from the darkness, but there was something else as well.

"Fifth grade, she had one hell of a sense of humor." A small, remorseful smile crept up his face, "We were friends, and" he snorted, "she got into a lot of trouble with her mom sometimes, she wasn't as uptight." His smile faded quickly, "Dated two months before she died though."

Sasuke looked down at his hands and wondered out loud, "That was really her?"

"Yeah, it was. No matter how hard it is to believe it, it was." Neji continued to stare at the screen.

"Her mother...she committed suicide." Sasuke brought it up.

"Yeah, I heard that too." Neji flipped through a couple other cassettes, "But it changed her a lot. She lost all her friends. Suddenly, she lost..." He couldn't find the words anymore.

But Sasuke could. He understood perfectly. She lost all of herself. That was what he was trying to say. And it was true.

But why would her mother's death make her strive for perfection so much?

"Do you ever see the old her?" Sasuke found himself asking.

"Never." Neji re-winded the tape and paused it on Tenten's laughing face.

"But I wish she would come back."

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That night, the song was fast paced. It was almost like spring, with the high notes chirping like birds, and the vibrating notes like gurgling streams. Creating a bright and light melodic flow into the night, like the spring sky.

Sakura wiggled in place by Sasuke on their same spot on the tree. "I like this one the best."

Sasuke sighed. "They all sound the same."

She shook her head as if he was very wrong. "Ie. It sounds more...happier. Listen."

He did. And she was right. It sounded...

Like it had feeling.

And that feeling was friendliness. As if it was a song of laughter between friends, just by the tiniest bit. But it was something.

He found himself inspired to ask, "Is Yin your friend?"

She tipped her head and looked at him as if he had asked something very stupid. "Of course! That's a very, very silly question from Uchiha-kun!"

"Why?"

She hesitated, putting a finger to her cheek in wonder. Then she shrugged, as if it was the best answer, "I like her. Tenten-sensei-chan is really nice...and maybe if I can be closer friends with her, show her that I care, then maybe..." A gentle, understanding look silked over her face.

"I'll be able to see the real her."

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"I'm do-one!" Sakura closed her book with a bright smile towards Tenten.

Tenten gave a blank, warm smile. But Sasuke was starting to see something change inside her.

She didn't seem so cold anymore.

Sasuke looked at Sakura. Again, she somehow amazed him. No matter how clueless, how innocent she seemed, it was as if she knew everything about Tenten. But she knew nothing. She had an ability.

But he wasn't admiring. She was a people person. He wasn't. So what?

"Ne, ne~ There's a new ice-cream shop that opened! I want to go there after school! Tenten-sensei-chan, come with us?"

Tenten shook her head, "I'm so sorry, but-

"Lap three hundred sixty fou-OW!" A blur rushed past, tripping over Tenten's books and falling into a pile of complex paperwork.

Tenten blinked, looking at the boy with disturbingly tight gym clothes and noticeable eyebrows.

Naruto, who happened to have been in a heated one-sided fight with Shikamaru, shielded his eyes and yelled, "HOLY CRAP! I'M SCARRED!"

Sasuke had to admit, it was a bit unsettling. But he recognized him. He was that boy from Neji's video. Rock Lee.

The boy shook his head, rearranging his shiny black hair, defiant. "This is not scarring. You should feel blessed." Then he saw Neji under the tree and quickly stood up, making a scene of pointing at him. "Hyuuga Neji!" He announced dramatically as everyone else watched thinking he was insane. "We meet again! I challenge you-

Neji put a finger to his forehead from annoyance, "Give it up Lee. The answer is always no."

"Okay, okay! Are you done, kid?! I want to be able to see again!" Naruto yelled with his hands still over his eyes.

Lee glared at Naruto and pointed at him, "Fine! Then you, hideous, ignorant boy! Consider yourself challenged by the handsome devil!"

Naruto ranted and raved about something as Lee shot back. The two made a good pair for amusement, as many of the guys such as Shikamaru noticed. But Sakura tugged on Lee's shirt.

"Ano...excuse me, but could you help us pick up?" She looked at him with huge eyes.

Lee saluted, "Of course!" Then he looked down at saw Tenten reorganizing her stuff. "Hey! Tenten! I didn't see you there!"

Tenten looked down at her lap and nodded her hello. "Good day."

Sasuke felt a wave of frustration inside. Why wasn't she showing any form of emotion for her old friends? They had seemed close in the video. How could she act like it never happened?

Lee seemed to have known she would respond that way and looked away. The whole silence grew awkward.

But like always, Sakura unknowingly broke through the glass of discomfort. She leapt up and asked, "Then, can you get Tenten-sensei-chan to go to the ice cream store with us!? Please, please!?"

"Demo*, I'm busy..."

"No you're not." Sasuke interrupted, "You go to the library everyday, you can spare one day. You're going." He couldn't take it anymore. She was throwing away her life for no reason.

She may have thought she was making her father happy, but she wasn't. And he wanted to make she that she realized that. Realize that all they wanted was her back.

"I can't." Her amber eyes had a steely glaze to them, but in the dark brown was a flaming red that showed that she was fighting inside. Resisting something.

Sasuke didn't plan to anger her. Even though she wouldn't have shown her irritation- she was too cautious for that- he still wanted her to be happy with having friends. He wasn't going to force her too much. But without force, she would stay this way forever.

And for some reason, he didn't want her to be like this.

He flicked his eyes over to Sakura and saw the disappointment on her face. Luckily, Lee was able to make up for what Sasuke didn't know how to put in words. With attempted charm, Lee winked and gave a grin that showed his flashing teeth, "Tenten, please allow me to treat you to ice cream. You can't turn that down, right?"

"Any sane person would." Naruto muttered, but Shikamaru knocked him on the head.

"Manners, you dumbass, he's a junior!" Shikamaru seethed through his teeth.

Tenten looked lost for words, unsure how to refuse without causing some sort of dramatically pathetic scene from Lee. She blinked quickly, trying to think of a response.

But she wasn't fast enough. Before she could answer, Sakura cheered. "Yay! Ice cream with Tenten!"

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Sasuke had lied without being aware of it when he had reassured Tenten that the stop wouldn't take more than 10 minutes. By the time the door to the ice cream parlor opened with a chime of bells and they left, the sky was already dark, with only a thin thread of orange lining the horizon.

Sakura contently licked her (second) large cone of chocolate hazelnut ice cream, with a smile on her face that could easily be told that she was on the brink of having a sugar rush.

In the end, Sasuke had paid for their bill since it had turned out that Lee didn't have any money with him what so ever. Plus, he already knew Naruto was broke, and Shikamaru was too lazy to buy a wallet. Neji could've paid, however, since Sakura was the one who seemed addicted to sugar the most and she was more acquainted to Sasuke, Sasuke felt that he should be the one to pay for her as well. It wasn't that much money, since neither Sasuke nor Neji liked sweets.

But Tenten was the only one who paid for herself, refusing to be treated to. At first, she hadn't even planned on buying any ice cream, only sitting in stony silence. After a bit of prodding and annoying from Lee, they got her to buy something and to say a few words.

Sure, they mostly consisted of "Thank You"'s, "Yes"'s, and short phrases. But they were something. And most of all, the smile she had on when she walked out wasn't the same, gray smile. There was a bit of something in them, as if she actually meant to smile. And that was an improvement.

They passed by the toyshop when Naruto spotted a "super awesome" toy car and decided to act like a three year old by whining to have it.

"Look! It's a mobile ramen shop car!" Naruto pressed his nose against the glass.

Shikamaru slapped his forehead in annoyance, he wanted to go home and sleep. "It's amazing how much trash a person can a toy..."

"I WANT IT!!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke covered his ears and gritted his teeth, "Shut up you loser. Go in and buy it yourself."

Naruto looked at Sasuke as if he had stated something incredibly stupid, "I'm broke." He looked at him expectantly.

Sasuke realized what he was implying. "No." He and the others started walking the other way. Sasuke noticed Tenten slowing her pace by a bit when they passed by a huge poster. It was the anime convention one that he saw from before.

_**"**_ _**I bought her one of those cartoon dolls she used to love..."**_

Sasuke saw the familiarity between the poster and the video he saw at Neji's. It was anime. Tenten used to like anime. And it was a good chance that she still took interest in it, she only didn't want to show it.

Lee noticed it too. He looked up at the poster and pointed, "Hey! Neji! Remember? That's what Tenten would drag us to every spring!" He turned to Tenten, who ignored them and continued walking faster, eager to get rid of the remembrance.

But Lee wouldn't let it go, he called out. "Hey Tenten! When are we planning to go again?! I miss wearing my costumes!" He made his signature wink and grin, "And everyone wants to bear witness to the real-world Gotan!"

Neji gave Lee a look, telling him to knock it off. But Lee was oblivious to the situation, and Sasuke was somewhat grateful for that. Maybe Lee could also annoy Tenten enough to get her to go to the convention as well.

Eventually, the group grew smaller and smaller until it was only Neji, Lee, Sakura, Tenten, and Sasuke left. The first house coming up was Tenten's, and they decided unanimously to join her up the long driveway to say goodbye and to meet her father.

"Really, I can walk up myself." Tenten insisted.

But Sasuke could see through her intentions even with her mechanical expression. She didn't want to cause her father any trouble by bringing friends along. However, he knew that it was the exact opposite.

They rang the doorbell as Tenten rubbed her arms in discomfort. She wasn't angry as she most likely would've been before when Sasuke first met her, nor was she cold. She seemed to be nervous about her father's disapproving reaction that she expected, but at the same time, she didn't want to worry Neji and the others.

"Tenten-chan, how come you're so la-" Tenten's father opened the door and stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the people behind her.

Tenten spoke up, "Ah- Oto-sama*, they insisted on coming-

He didn't seem to mind. "Neji-kun! Lee-kun! Is that you?" He seemed pleasantly surprised, Sasuke could hear the excitement for his daughter hiding behind the mild voice.

Lee made a quick and straight salute, "Yes sir! It is true! I have grown much more muscl-"

Neji made a quick move to step on his foot, taking charge. "It's nice to see you again, Yin-san. You seem as healthy as always." He looked at Tenten shrink to the side silently as she felt that she was troubling her father further and further as they talked longer. "Lee and I decided on our own without Tenten's permission to see you."

Tenten's father chuckled, "Still polite as always, I see." He stepped aside, "Would you all like to come in? It's getting cold."

Sasuke saw something cold wash over Tenten's eyes when her father noted Neji's courtesy. Was it jealousy, or anger at herself?

Sakura chirped from the back of the group, "Are you Tenten-sensei-chan's oto-chan?" She looked curiously at him.

He smiled, "Yes, but she hasn't called me that in a long time." There was a bit of sadness in his eyes when he said this.

Then Sakura asked, "Sou desu ka*...Then ne, ne~ Can I go with Tenten-sensei-chan to the convention?"

Tenten turned her head quickly to Sakura's direction and tried to start, "No. I don't like anime anymore..."

Lee slapped Sakura on the back, "Good idea Sakura-chan! We can all go! We haven't been there in a while, right Tenten?"

Tenten looked to the other side, "Yes..." Sasuke could tell she didn't like the idea of wasting time for her enjoyment, but he knew that somewhere inside, there was someone who still was the girl she was six years ago.

It was up to him to make her understand that it was okay to let her show.

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That Saturday, all five found themselves surrounded by tides of fans dressed in cosplay of all sorts. They stayed together in the main hall to register, waiting in line to join the activities. Sakura openly stared at the variety of outfits, pointing and jumping when she saw something cute.

_Well...at least we're not that weird. _Sasuke told himself to try looking on the bright side as he shifted slightly in his stiff, gold collar and watched a boy his age dressed up in a large Pikachu costume. He looked down and felt the long blue cape swish behind him and the large, prominent red shoulder plates clink, wincing. Then again, he still felt pretty stupid.

He hadn't planned on wearing a costume; he didn't know that fans actually went this far. It was only the day before when he found out that people cosplayed during conventions from Lee, who was enthusiastically describing his costume. By then, it was too late; Sakura had already found out about it too. So she rushed him to three whole blocks worth of stores trying to find costumes that matched them well. He resisted at first, but he found that he was too weak to ignore the bright, child-like excited face that she had on.

He shook his head. It wasn't that he was weak, he had control over his thoughts. He had his reasons. And that reason was one that he didn't know yet. The only reason that he had right now was that Neji was also wearing a costume as well, which didn't make him feel as stupid.

However, Neji's costume didn't seem as pathetic as the one Sakura chose for Sasuke. Sasuke forced himself not to look in the mirror before he left; he knew that looking at his reflection would only make the humiliation worse. But the image of himself in the glass wearing the outfit from the day Sakura made him model it was still- sadly enough- in his mind.

With no say in any form or way, Sasuke was dressed as Takuto Meyers, some guy from "Galaxy Angels". He didn't know who he was, or how he acted, but he knew that it wasn't good. With the long blue cape, the red shoulder plates, and the white-gold suit with a tie tucked in, he looked like some sort of dorky prince from a fairy tale- something that Sasuke did not favor.

Sakura tugged on Sasuke's cape and pointed at someone else with huge eyes, "Look at that one!" As if everyone here was some specimen of a zoo animal she had never seen before.

Sasuke looked at Sakura and sighed. Dressed in a flowing pink dress and a flowery wedding-like veil as a hair band, she looked more as if she was going to a wedding rather than a convention. The red ribbons tied in the hair and at the top of her dress swirled around her as she tilted her head and smiled at him. "See? This isn't that bad!"

Easy for her to say. She was dressed as Milfuelle Sakuraba from Galaxy Angel II, which was acceptable for her since the series was feminine. But for him to be matching her in the same kind of show (for girls)...

As if Neji sensed his pain, he smirked. "Well, aren't you just popular everywhere?" He nodded at the direction of a group of girls dressed as maids, who were giggling and blushing at him.

Sasuke ignored Neji's comment. Neji gave a low laugh, "Ch...don't be so freaked out, it's just one day."

Easy for him to say. Neji's costume was by far less attention-attracting than Sasuke's. Plus, it was from a more, male-dominated anime: "Bleach". He didn't have to where a royal-like outfit, instead, he had on a traditional, all black hakama and kimono with a white vest-overcoat with 'six' in kanji on the back. Kuchiki Byakuya.

Tenten stood quietly waiting in line. She didn't look like she was enjoying the excitement, despite the fact that from what everyone had said, she used to be the biggest anime fan ever. But even though she was forced to be here, she dressed up anyway- as Neji's 'little sister', Kuchiki Rukia.

The only one thing that made Sasuke feel better about himself was Lee, who was "declaring himself to the world". Or if Sasuke were to put it in his own words, publicizing his own social-suicide. He was dressed as a Dragon Ball Z character, which meant dressing only in pants, half-dressed (or if you were looking in Sasuke's point of view: half-naked). Sasuke didn't even bother finding out who Lee was: he was just a dork. Period.

Lee flexed and yelled. "Fear the all powerful!" Little did he know that there was a whole circle of emptiness surrounding him: everyone was trying to avoid him, scared to let anyone think that they knew him.

Finally they got their admission passes. Sakura was about to call out to Lee as they walked up the case of stairs, but Neji stopped her and shook his head. It didn't work though, Lee noticed in the end anyway.

"Wow!" Sakura twirled in a circle with wide eyes. "There's so much to do here!"

And she was right. All around them there was some sort of activity. To the west hallway there were never-before-seen anime movies. To the east there was a huge room for the J-pop bands and dances where fans could hang out. Left of the ballroom were stands of merchandise; a bargaining area for all sorts of fandom. Directly opposite of that was a hallway of rooms for games and contests.

"What do we do first?" Sakura jumped up and down. Before anyone could say anything though, she ran right towards that movie area and looked at one of the posters for the movies. "Ooh! Ooh! Sakura likes this one! It looks cute!" She waved towards them.

As they made their way to her, she peered closer at the picture. Sasuke looked at the board and saw that the titling read: Cardcaptor Sakura The Movie. "Ne~ne~! It's right now! Can we watch it? Can we?"

Of course, they couldn't say no. But as they sat down and the lights dimmed, Sakura started to whisper questions. Sasuke didn't comment on them, he had no clue what was going on either. But Tenten was quick to answer each one, so she explained and answered each one of Sakura's curious questions precisely. After each time she did this, she made a motion to cover her mouth or had an odd expression on her face, as if she hadn't meant to say that. Sasuke couldn't help but feel a bit smug about that. His plan was working.

After words, when the movie was over, Sakura skipped out of the room and smiled back at Tenten, "You know at lot about this stuff! That's so cool!"

She looked away uncomfortably, "It's not that much, I used to watch it just a little bit..." She didn't want to show any interest in a useless hobby like anime, but Sasuke could tell that she still liked it, after years of suppressing.

Lee slapped Tenten on the back, causing her to trip forward just a bit in surprise. "Ah Tenten, don't be so modest!" He winked at Sakura, "This girl's a genius at all things anime!"

She looked up and started, "No, it's not like I'm obsessed with it or-

"Really!?" Sakura grabbed Tenten's hands, her green eyes dancing in excitement. "Then ne~ Can you try that contest over there?!" She pointed at the poster.

It was the annual anime IQ contest, where players would go one vs. one to answer questions about shows to win a trophy. Sakura gazed with starry eyes at the trophy of a huge chibi, "It's so cute and shiny!"

Tenten was hesitant. To Sasuke, it was almost like she was scared to let herself go; that if she did join the competition, some side of her would show. The side that she had been trying to eliminate.

But he already knew that the moment they came here, that girl she was trying to erase was already starting to come back. She just needed a bit more pushing.

He walked to the registration stand and started to write her name down. Tenten rushed over, but that was after Sasuke had already paid and got the contestant sticker number. "What are you doing?"

"Contestant number 13." He handed it to her.

She looked lost about what to do as they joined the crowd. The yells and shouts were a mix of cheering and booing as the table they surrounded had two people sitting across on another with an announcer in the middle reading cards.

When they reached contestant 13, Tenten stood still as they called the number again and again. If she stood quietly there, perhaps they would think that she wasn't there and skip her.

But Lee ruined that plan, by pushing her forward and yelling, "Hurry Tenten! Run into the sunset of sweet victory!"

Tenten stumbled into the circle and looked almost like a rabbit, ready to run at any frightening noise. She still wasn't sure if she was strong enough to withhold the same feeling inside her that caused to answer all of Sakura's questions during the movie. She didn't want that feeling to overtake her.

It was almost like the same way Sasuke felt. Resistant to that nagging feeling that continuously tried taking over.

And like Sasuke, she couldn't defeat the surging side either. She looked into the crowd, seeing Neji and Sasuke's smirks, Lee's huge grin with his teeth gleaming at her, and Sakura waving her encouragement. She took a deep breath and sat down.

The moment she got her first question, the cage holding her back was clicked open.

"This character is from a Shonen Jump published anime and is known for his straw hat-

"Monkey D. Luffy." Tenten answered without a blink.

Each question she answered without a thought or without the tension in her eyes. To Sasuke, it seemed like this kind of contest was different than the math one. She seemed more carefree, less steely about missing a question. She almost seemed happy about being up there.

She stayed up there until beating contestant number 351. There was no contestant 252. She was the only one left. Everyone in the crowd was in suppressed mutters, all shocked at how fast the competition went.

"We have our winner! Congratulations!" They presented Tenten with the giant trophy.

As people took photographs of her, with the trophy in her hands, Tenten looked surprised, almost sad that the competition was over. The faint smile on her face, Sasuke could see that there was something more than conserved politeness. The curve of her mouth, the tiniest glow in her dark toffee eyes; there was actually someone in there happy and proud for herself.

As Sakura lead the way around the stands, trying to buy everything cute in her way, Tenten walked behind with Sasuke and Neji with a soft smile still left. As Neji avoided a conversation Sasuke only glanced sideways to watch Tenten look down at her trophy serenely.

Somehow, it gave him a feeling a peace that blanketed over the crashing, raging thoughts when remembering his father. Looking at her now, it made him feel less burdened...that maybe, he didn't have to be perfect. She was proof of it all, and he could enjoy life...

He shook his head. What was he thinking? He blew it all off when Sakura started to pester him about helping her haggle a price. Once he was done and Sakura was content again, they were about to leave he noticed Tenten was closely observing a doll that had a black school dress and short brown hair. She delicately touched the doll's hair, as if she ran through a quick check of whether or not it was in good quality.

Sasuke remembered the huge collection of dolls from the video and told the shop owner, "I'll add on three more dollars for that one." He pointed at the doll Tenten was kneeling down to touch.

The bargainer scowled but agreed, Sasuke handed it to Tenten. She looked up, surprised and guilty. "But-

"You wanted it. You had to buy something eventually." Sasuke shrugged and his firm voice that told her to keep it.

"Thank you..." She muttered, seeming unwilling to own the small doll. But through the downcast eyes, Sasuke caught her admiring the doll's skirt and hair.

They continued on with their day, and little by little, Sasuke found himself admitting in his thoughts that it wasn't as bad. He was actually enjoying himself. His thoughts wandered to how if he hadn't moved here, he would've still been in his apartment in the darkness, deep in his intentions of revenge. Yet here he was in a crowd of excitement, it was amazing how he had changed...he didn't want to confirm it, but for the first time, he had just realized that he was grateful not to be everything his father wanted him to be. He was happy not carrying the Uchiha expectations.

He was just fine being him.

The sun started to set through the tall windows. Shades of red started to graduate the sky, with the very top as purple. The orange glow bled through glass and into the large foyer, which laid a flush of flame shades over the heads of many people.

Tenten looked out the window with anxious worry, but hid it well since no one but Sasuke seemed to have noticed.

"It's fine. He won't be upset." He told her quietly as they continued to watch the fake sword-fighting contest.

She didn't seem like she believed him and still lingered on the thoughts of how upset and shamed her father would feel if she returned late for some convention that only people who didn't make use of life would go to, but a part of her still wanted to stay. So she kept silent.

Neji snickered and Sakura 'awwed' in sympathy for Lee as he lost (yet again) for the 23rd time. But unlike his friend Neji, Lee was not so unconfident in himself.

He paid another five dollars. "The handsome devil refuses to back down in a challenge he cannot overcome!" He announced, looking even more ridiculous with his Sayan-ish wig slipping off from all the fights he took on.

The other older boys groaned. It had been fun laughing at him in the beginning, but now it was getting annoying. One of them shouted, "Okay, that's it! If you think you're so tough, then why don't we all do a strength competition!"

If the comment was supposed to bring Lee down, it didn't work out, because Lee took it seriously and looked up. "That's a good idea! I accept!"

The person in charge of the contest looked at his watch, "Uh, look you guys, this time slot for this activity is up anyway, and the cosplay couple piggy-back ride contest is supposed to begin-

"Yes! That's it!" Lee gave a thumbs up (lame), "Who ever can win the next contest will prove themselves worthy of my title."

Neji rubbed his forehead and denied any relationship he had with Lee. "Like anyone would want a lame title like that." He muttered to Sasuke.

All the guys began to run off with their partners on their backs, eager to win and have the honors of getting rid of Lee. Neji sighed and looked away, "I'm not looking."

Sasuke agreed, and Sakura only sat in a W-sit, as if the whole thing went by too fast and she hadn't understood what just happened.

"Neji."

Neji turned and saw Lee bent over with his hands out behind him pointing towards Neji. He then understood what he meant and looked bewildered, "No. Definitely not-

"Aw~ Go Lee!" As if everything had finally just clicked into her head, Sakura stood up and was starting to cheer for Lee, unaware that he didn't even have a partner yet, and at the same time accidentally pushing Neji into Lee.

"What the-

Lee rushed off with a speed that Sasuke had to admit was impressive. But it was not as nearly impressive as it was hilarious as Neji continued to have his rough ride on Lee's back, with Lee forgetting the height difference and causing Neji to hit the hanging posters overhead.

He was about to smirk when he heard a laugh.

A laugh that was unfamiliar yet had a tone in it that he swore he knew.

He turned and saw Tenten with a hand covering her mouth that was an attempt to cover it up and hold back. But she fell into a fit of giggles and her shoulders shook with a giddy laugh of delight. Her eyes shone with a melted, translucent chocolate with a touch of hot autumn glow in them. They shone with cheerfulness. They shone with amusement.

They shone with her.

* * *

A/N: Longest chapter so far, sorry if it was a bother to read, those of you that decided to go all out and stick with me (THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL IF YOU RE READING THIS!) tell me if you felt that it was too lengthy. I'll change it for future readers.

I kinda uploaded this late, for a reason I'd just like to mention: I WATCHED TWILIGHT!!! Actually, I wasn't expecting it to be okay (cuz it was okay in its own way), I thought it'd be worse. But Edward was kinda stiff. But I loved Emmett and his knife waving, and Jasper was such a hottie in his baseball attire...

Back to the subject!!...

Just one question I was wondering, do you like Tenten or Hinata better so far? Or maybe Sakura (she's the last girl I'll be writing about, the big finale...)?

Yes, Tenten likes anime. In a way, I sort of based Tenten on me, so obviously, I figured she would like anime as well. All the characters of cosplaying and stuff are all from real anime. You can type up Mifuelle Sakuraba and Takuto Meyers and see what they look like (you'll also find that they're a couple, teehee).

Vocab:

Konbanwa- Good Evening

Fighto- Fight

-sensei-chan- I connected honorifics to make it seem un-informal at the same time while talking to a teacher.

Hajimemashite- Pleased to meet you (polite)

Tomodatchi- Friends

Oto-san- A more formal way to say 'father'

Oto-chan- A closer, babyish way to say 'daddy'

Demo- But

Sou desu ka- I see...

Characters:

Rock Lee- A junior, one of Tenten's old friends from middle school. And yes, he is still as weird as ever.

Please, please, please, super please comment! I likes feedback! It gives me my fire!


	11. Determined, Desperate

**Chapter 11: Determined; Desperate**

There is a saying: all things good eventually fade. Winter stars that fall from the sky- that bring a chilling beauty to the ground- eventually melt. An event one could promise at the time never to overlook- one that comforts the heart- eventually is forgotten.

A friend who would smile and finally melt from the coldness brought upon her from her own thoughts- a friend who finally could feel the sensation of being free from expectations-...would eventually lose that reassurance.

And so would Sasuke's feeling of accomplishment, as Tenten's absence from school stretched from one day, to one week, to three weeks. This was the first time she had missed school in years, but she was still keeping up with schoolwork, because every single time the test scores were released on the bulletin board, her name would be at the top.

Since that day of the convention, the day she had finally let herself go, she had been excused from school. Nobody knew why she was gone, some said that she most likely had gotten in trouble for slipping up in something small. But Sasuke knew that wasn't possible, her father wasn't focused on her grades anymore. He knew that it was probably herself, or something else.

Sakura, being the simple-minded girl she was, came to the conclusion that Tenten probably took a vacation. Lee never commented on her absence, but Sasuke assumed that he knew, because each time Tenten was missing from the group of friends under the large tree, Sasuke would see less of him. It seemed that in a way, whether it was completely unintended and unwanted at first, Tenten had created her own niche. Almost like the tiniest, thinnest thread in a weaving; no matter how insignificant it seems alone, if taken away, the colorful threads fall apart as well.

Neji continued to stay, but he never brought up anything. His expression would always be the same at the mention of her; his face would cloud with dark thoughts- it was never an angry look, only stony with concern. But Neji, like Sasuke was good at confining his thoughts so that it was difficult to tell if he even cared.

Sasuke pushed in his chair and walked out of the computer lab, taking his graded rubric for the video project with him. Neji strode past him, with his rubric in his hand as well as quickly screened over the A+ grade. He didn't look like he was planning to make any motion to talk to Sasuke, since he looked like he was in a hurry. But Sasuke figured that he always looked that way, so when Neji stopped by at his locker, he stood at the corner to ask, "Have you visited yet?"

Although the question was vague, there was no doubt Neji knew what Sasuke was referring to. "No."

"Do you plan to?"

Could pale eyes grew stormy gray. "No, not really."

Sasuke looked at him. He thought that Neji wasn't like the other people; the other people who went on with their lives obliviously. Those were the ones he hated most. Those would be the ones who could look at Tenten and say: "Wow, I wish I were like her. She's so lucky!" without really knowing what they were saying. They never bothered to _look_. Because if they did, they would take those words back and be thankful for what they had. They don't bother to she _her_, and find that there was someone trapped with sorrow inside.

He gripped the paper harder, crumpling the words. It was the same for him. Everybody in the school went on with their lives, passing by him, saying how cool he was, how perfect. They didn't know. They didn't know anything.

But Neji knew about Tenten, he could see something. He could see everything. He wasn't blind. He chose to walk away, and to Sasuke, that was even worse. To not look and to no know was bad enough, but to look and choose to ignore was unforgivable.

"Do you care?" Sasuke kept his voice in reserved coldness.

Neji turned his head and looked Sasuke in the eyes. "Do you think I don't worry about her? Do you think it doesn't bother me that my closest friend is isolating herself, ruining herself? She actually wants to stay this way. So no what?" He started to walk off. "Don't think I don't care Uchiha. But you can't change a personality if there's nothing left to change."

Sasuke quietly heard himself respond, "No."

Then his words echoed in the empty hallway.

"But you can give someone a chance to have something to change."

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Standing on the doorsteps, waiting for the plain white door to open, Sasuke felt awkward. But it didn't feel as bad as it did the first night he had stood here. He waited patiently, with his hands in his pocket. The lack of company and human conversation allowed the swoosh of the passing cars seem louder. It also made the waiting seem longer, to the extent where Sasuke started to doubt if he really had rung the doorbell. His mind was just starting to plan on making himself break his self-constructed rule of not ringing doorbells twice (it seemed clingy and dependent on other people) as he began to reach to the side of the door when it slowly pushed open.

The person who had answered wasn't Tenten, but her father.

Sasuke usually never paid more attention to others than what he felt was necessary (after all, he shouldn't care. They were them. He was him.) Yet he couldn't help but see how pale his face was, like he had been frozen in ice for years, depleting all the color away. His eyes were red around the edges and shadows laid underneath them, result of fatigue. Judging by how he was coughing, Sasuke could tell he was extremely ill.

"Ahem...Uchiha-kun, how nice to see you." He coughed. Sasuke was surprised that he still had the energy to talk, but maybe it was just the determination in him to try to seem healthy in the others' eyes. Or maybe just his daughter's.

Before he said anything else, he ushered Sasuke inside. Like all polite hosts, he still began to brew tea for him even in his condition. As Sasuke sat and waited, he noticed how the house was still abnormally clean despite that Tenten's father was sick. As he settled down and placed the tea on the table, he coughed and took a sip of tea.

Finally he spoke, answering the invisible question that hung in between them, staring at the table. "Tenten-chan had just left to grab more cough drops..." he coughed, "She's been so worried about me, she's taken time off from school. Even though I insist that I'm fine." He held the teacup in his hands and made small, slow circles with his wrists, stirring the tea gently. "She refuses to listen. Taking care of me has made her so busy..."

He chuckled tiredly. "I must have frightened her when she returned from the convention that night. I was washing the dishes and suddenly felt so tired. I must have fallen asleep..."

Sasuke could see it in his head. Finding her father lying unconscious at the kitchen tiling at the sink unconscious after coming home from and outing with friends late at night. Tenten must have been scared. But that wasn't the emotion Sasuke was thinking about the most.

She must have blamed herself. While she was having fun and enjoying herself, her father had been sick the whole time at home. He remembered telling her that it was okay to stay longer and she looked at him unbelievingly but took his word. He was apparently wrong, and she brought it upon herself to think that she had failed her father; this time it wasn't just what she thought was shame from a grade.

He coughed again. It seemed heavier- showing how right Tenten was not to trust her father that he was healthy.

And as if the last cough had haggled his voice away, the words that came from him were in a small whisper. It was so strangled, so rasp-quiet, that any person not playing the closest attention wouldn't have noticed anything But Sasuke hear. In his mind, h heard it perfectly clear.

"I'm so worried..."

Sasuke knew that he had many things to worry about. He could've been worried about his illness. There was no doubt that he was severely sick, and Sasuke had even seen people die slowly from these types of things. And he still had a job to work at, a house to supposed even while being ill. There was much to worry about for himself.

But that wasn't it. And Sasuke knew that.

The garage door swung open and Tenten's father got up, about to greet his daughter. She rushed over and settled him back into his seat. She gave a fleeting, mechanical smile for him to soothe his worried face, but it didn't work because even though he might've smiled as she started to prepare the medicine and measuring the doses over the kitchen counter, his eyes still seemed un-eased.

"Ah, Tenten-chan, why don't you take a break and join our guest? Uchiha-kun has come to visit us."

Her head slowly raised as she finished mixing the prescriptions and brought it over to her father. She looked at Sasuke. They met eye to eye, and he could see a fear and hatred hollowing her. She said with vacant iciness, lacking her usual courteous smile, "But I'm sure Uchiha-san is in a rush today, so he must be going now."

She showed him to the door, leaving her father in peace as they stood in the empty hallway in the front of the house.

"I'm not busy, and you need a break." She said this in a quiet voice, but he knew that she already got that.

She didn't reply, and coldly opened the door, waiting for him to walk out so she could close it.

He kept his ground. What happened to the girl he saw at the convention? The one who had her own feelings? The one who had a personality? She stood here now, like a lifeless doll. As if nothing had happened since the last three weeks. Why would she try to change back?

He started, "You don't need to be per-

"Please leave," She interrupted him, her voice grew louder. He looked and saw her clearly. He saw something fighting inside her, trying to be free. But the could, barrier tried hard to hold it back, as if the thing was a monster, and there were already fractures in what was supposed to be an invincible wall. And she was scared, she knew that side in her was growing stronger and break though because of Sasuke.

The amber flashed in her eyes showed fear for that self inside, hatred for her weak self, and anger at Sasuke. "You can't be here. You're ruining everything." Tears welled up. "If you keep doing this," She spoke as if he was poisoning her, tormenting her to death.

"She's going to kill again."

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_She_. Who was "she"? Was someone threatening Tenten? Pressuring her?

As he started to know her more, he was getting more and more confused. He knew that she was a near flawless girl; one who sacrificed her dreams to make her father proud- to be perfect. Yet along the way, she lost herself, her opinions, her thoughts..._her._

She used to be a cheerful, energetic, and very opinionated. She loved fun and didn't care so much about grades. Being perfect wasn't her life before.

Something must've happened in between.

But what?

A couple week passed by, Tenten started to face. Where she used to matter as friend to all of Sasuke's group, she slowly started to wash out from the importance of their minds'. From being an actual person with life, she turned back into merely an image- a phrase of the mind. From "Tenten" to "that girl", "the perfect girl".

Sasuke grew frustrated at how Tenten stayed away from the group and read in the library every lunch instead. She was purposely avoiding them. And he knew it wasn't really because she was busy. It wasn't even that she didn't like them either.

She was afraid.

That was what caused that storm of thoughts raining inside him to thunder. Nobody was really denying her from being free, but herself. To Sasuke, she seemed like two people: the doll she was on the outside- dull, lonely, strong- and the little girl she was inside- lively, lighthearted...- but trapped. Now, that little girl was starting to find her way outside the shell, pushing through so that the armor that was supposed to be made of resilient oath was cracking.

Someone in there wanted freedom.

But the other wanted to stay trapped.

She was suffering though, and that wasn't fair. Sasuke knew that in order to save her, that little girl inside her had to fully hatch and take over. But for that to happen, the other girl- marionette- needed to willingly leave, to come to peace.

But he left her alone. He couldn't find a way to reach her without seeming awkward. His facade still mattered to him, and that Uchiha side of him hadn't completely been free from his mind. Revenge still mattered, meeting expectations still mattered, being an Uchiha still mattered. It just didn't matter as much. Like Tenten, he still tried keeping himself the same. He found himself checking on whether or not he was acting too friendly or social, which was good, but it was disturbing to him that he actually had to make sure of it. Whereas he used to be independent by nature.

So going up to a girl and talking to her first was against his rules, and he refused it. It was for them to go to him, and for him not to care- not the other way around. He wasn't even supposed to care in the first place. But he did.

The ceasing of winter season meant tennis season as well, and Sasuke tried taking his mind away from his friends'- no not friends, classmates'- problems by joining. It was in the Uchiha expectations to excel in at least two or more athletics, and Sasuke's was basketball and tennis. He started tennis when he was really young, taking lessons since he had first lived here. He liked it better because it was a single person sport- he didn't have to depend on anyone.

He went to the office to pick up a health form for tennis and to sign his name up on the signup sheet. Standing at the desk, he flipped the pages to see the other names written down. He was surprised to see how many tennis (wannabe) players were in the school, and he was pretty sure he could easily defeat any of them. Except for one, and that was the name he was surprised to see the most.

Right above where he was supposed to fill his name was in a thin, neat cursive: Yin Tenten.

Behind him, Sasuke even heard the tensing of muscles behind him. And then he heard a furious mutter, "You're kidding me."

He turned just in time to see Neji hover over him have his eyes rage over the same name. When Neji finally got a hold of himself and realized that Sasuke was noticing his anger, he said in a quiet voice. "Just a couple seasons ago, she damaged her shoulder from over practicing...she wasn't supposed to play ever again." He veered around and walked off in his own cold frustration, as if he couldn't bear to have the sight of her name reminding him that she was planning on hurting herself.

Because Sasuke realized, that was what she was really doing. There was a reason why doctors would ban her from playing is because it injured her to play, and yet she was playing again.

After listening to the rest of the school gossip, it was apparent that Tenten had been an excellent, national-ranked player. But she had been pressured (most likely by herself, he added on in his own thoughts) to practice too much for a world-wide youth tournament, causing her shoulder to dislocate right in the middle of her match. According to some students, the paramedics had to drag her off because she was sobbing with devastation and refused to forfeit.

She hadn't done any tennis activity for two years and went through surgery and physical therapy to fix her shoulder, but it was clear to doctors that it was a permanent injury. They had made it clear that she wasn't to play seriously anymore; her hobby as a competitive tennis player had went down the drain. Which was good for other players because she was supposedly incredibly skilled.

But now she was playing again.

He knew why: her father.

But did her father know?

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At the first practice, they split into groups of boys and girls. Sasuke discovered that Neji had joined as well, most likely to monitor Tenten, even if he didn't want to admit it. Lee signed up as well, and Sasuke had to admit, he brought a more relaxed mood to the team with his hilarious attitude.

Sasuke warmed up and found that he was right that most of the players sucked. He took in all the compliments from the team members and the impressed nods of the coaches. That was the way it was supposed to be. But Tenten took up some attention as well, with her accurate and powerful strokes (for a girl.) Sasuke told himself that he could beat her if he warmed up just a bit more.

But he wasn't so sure.

Inside, he didn't want to admit that he felt grateful that girls were separated from guys, because if word got around school that Tenten beat him in a match, he would be humiliated. He still felt the same way after a few weeks, and that frustrated him. Most of all, it felt confusing to hate someone for being better than you, yet not being jealous at the same time. He didn't want to be like Tenten.

But then he thought: wasn't he already like her?

Wasn't he supposed to have no emotions?

It didn't surprise him to find himself selected to be in the official school team along with Neji, Lee, and Suigetsu. For the girl's team, it was Tenten and three other girls. To Sasuke's annoyance, they made mixed doubles teams as well. Having a team member brought him down, and Sasuke felt that his teammates were always useless.

Unfortunately, yet fortunately at the same time, he had Tenten as a partner. It was fortunate because she wasn't useless; in fact she was just the opposite. But that fact was also part of the unfortunate part; she was good enough to match him, which wasn't supposed to happen. She started to make him wonder who was the better player, and that frustrated him because he was supposed to be better. It didn't really bother him inside as much he expected it would once he thought about it, but it bothered him as by how people would see him compared to her.

At their first practice match together, they played Rock Lee and Neji (Lee's partner skipped). Tenten made her serve, Sasuke noted how she paid no mind to how her shoulder made an odd pop and hit even harder when she noticed it.

He could also tell that Neji wasn't hitting as strong as he would've if he was playing someone else, and he was glad for that. Not for himself, but for Tenten. But she didn't seem to care. Lee, Sasuke had to grudgingly admit, was actually strong. He was strong in a scary way, he hit harder than Sasuke. But Tenten was able to return them. She made it seem like nothing, but Sasuke saw a little waver of strain in her eyes.

He wanted to tell her to stop, but his pride stopped him. He couldn't tell her in public.

When practice ended, Sasuke felt the tension in him release. He realized that tight feeling was worry when he saw Tenten massaging her right shoulder. Walking to the street with her, he said quietly, "What are you planning?"

Because he was somewhat confused. He didn't understand in some degree, why she would love so much, that she would suffer herself. He wanted to understand.

She walked away, slinging her duffel bag across her shoulder.

"To cleanse some of the sins I've committed."

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Daylight unrolled its illuminating colors in the sky, gently nudging night's dark twilight later and later. Tennis practice was beginning to grow more serious, since the school team was getting close to its first, district-wide tournament. Sasuke practiced on his own later, but he would never practice as late as Tenten.

No matter how hard Sasuke would try, even to the extent where it seemed impossible to push himself any further, Tenten would always beat him at effort. Even with her injured shoulder, it seemed like the upcoming competition meant everything to her. It was exactly like the math competition. And this time, she wanted to make sure that there was no room for flaws.

She always ignored her injury, pretending that it never happened. It looked like she didn't care that she was hurting herself, like she was hurting herself for a good reason; as if that if she went through all the pain, something good would come out of it. That everything would come to an end and she would be able to look back and smile upon the memory.

But that was just it; nothing was every enough for her. So when was it going to stop?

When was she going to be able to look back and smile?

Sasuke grabbed his iced coffee from the vending machine and popped open the lid, leaning against the tennis court fence to relax. He sipped his coffee and then threw on his sweatshirt, planning to walk off when he noticed that there was still one of the lights still on, beaming on one of the courts. He had already turned off his court lights, and he saw that there was only one person on the other courts, a shadow against the black sky.

Tenten continued serving. The clang of the balls pounding against the fence was rhythmic as she consistently hit them over them the net, as if it was not her plan to stop. But eventually she did pause, and packed her rackets to leave.

Sasuke noticed her shoulder made an unusual, sudden movement on its own as she slung her bag over her back. She winced, but she refrained from whimpering in pain as she only pounded it back in place with her other hand and walked off.

She took her usual route back home in the beginning, but she turned in the other direction of her street. Sasuke found himself following her, wondering who she could be visiting. She seemed to lost in her thoughts to have noticed that anyone was following her in the heart of the night.

She arrived at a cemetery, with a black wire lattice fence and a matching, tall gate of entwined flowers. Opening the gate, she walked into the area that looked even beautiful at night. She kneeled down at one of the largest marble blocks, the one with gold words that inscribed at the top: Yin Guang Rong.

She dug into her bag and took out a pack of paper money, placing at the foot of the slab.

"How are you, Mama?" She hugged her knees in such an insecure way that Sasuke thought he'd never see in Tenten. He'd always thought the girl she showed in school was like steel armor- sure, strong, and confident. But this girl was dependent, this girl seemed...lost.

"See? I'm being a good girl, I'm visiting you from tennis practice today." She gave a small, blank smile.

Whoever she was talking to Sasuke couldn't see. That person she was visiting, that person was invisible to him. But to her, that person seemed like her world. He could see that as she dug through her backpack and laid her test papers in front of her. "See? I got the highest score possible on every one. I was the best."

Her eyes seemed discarded, but loving as they wavered from the faint streetlights. And as if the gentle blow of the wind against her stress-tangled hair brought a whisper to her ears, the thin line of her mouth curved upward slightly. "Are you proud?"

"Yes, I started tennis again. You know how Baba loved to watch me play?...He would be proud of me..." She rolled back and forth on her toes, lamenting her memories with the same unseen figure she spoke lovingly to, "...You would make me teach lessons to you, and Baba teased about how you were the worst tennis player in the family..." She stiffened, and her nails dug into the dirt, clutching it in a tight fist. She put her head down and shut her eyes tight, as if they could eliminate the water that sparkled against the darkness that welled up in her eyes, "I miss you..."

"But that was my punishment wasn't it? I was such a bad girl."

"Baba's getting sick now too...and it's all my fault, I know... We have a tournament coming up, and Baba will come watch."

And even in the dark night, he saw a tear roll off her cheek and she looked up. Her eyes glowed with amber determination.

"But this time, it'll be different... I won't make the same mistake."

"I'm a different girl now, I promise."

"I won't disappoint Baba."

"I won't let Baba be humiliated to death,"

"because of me."

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A wan, white brightness streaked out in a square shape, creating a faint void of light around the laptop in the apartment. The room was silent, and even the clocks seemed to have understood the meaning of the lack of sound. Color was drained from the apartment as well, making the only form of life being infinite shades of gray, including the pale light trying to slip its way through the blinds.

The darkest shadow was the one sitting in front of the laptop; it was the only living one as well. Sasuke had multiple windows up on his screen, checking each one carefully as if he was performing a research project.

He scribbled down a date on a piece of scrap paper: June 3, and then checked all the other windows that used the same search engine, with the keywords: violin competition, tennis tourny, and school competitions.

None of them were dated June 13.

He tapped his pencil on his desk and saw the scene replay in front of his eyes.

_**"I miss you."**_

_**"But that was my punishment, wasn't it? I was such a bad girl."**_

_**"I won't let Baba be humiliated to death..."**_

_**"...because of me."**_

Everything, everything all came down to this. Everything came down to the fact that she loved. She loved her father too much to disappoint him. She remembered how much he loved watching her play tennis, and then she ruined her shoulder. But now, she was playing again.

Yet while it was just a hobby before, this time, to her, it wasn't a game to play for her pride.

She thought she could save her father by winning. No, there was more to it as well. Losing wasn't acceptable, because losing would mean losing everything. She believed that losing would burden her father with humiliation.

A humiliation so revolting, that it'd lead to suicide.

All these nightmares were brought upon by the death of her mother. To Tenten, she had died for that reason. For Tenten, it was all her fault.

Sasuke wondered what it felt to murder someone you cared for. He wondered how much it hurt to know that that person you loved felt so dishonored by your life, that they would end their own because pain was just too much. And then he thought; how would it feel to know that you were the cause of your parent's suffering? That you, you were the reason why they felt degraded.

Would he have done the same?

He remembered the guilt he felt when he felt his own family's blood covering him. He remembered how much he hated himself for screaming, and leaving them to rot, only fearing for his own life. And he remembered how regretful he felt a few weeks later when he realized he was alone, knowing that his father was right: he was useless.

And then he remembered how he changed, listening to only the recollection of his father's words in his mind. He still had that feeling in him; avenging his family by not only killing, but making up for what he wasn't when they lived as well.

Yet he noticed that somewhere along the way, he wasn't erasing his emotions anymore. He wasn't listening to what he thought his father would say. He didn't care.

Flashback.

_"Oka-chan, why does Oto-san like onii-chan so much and not me?" A young Sasuke pouted as he waited for his breakfast at the table. As he thought about it more and more, he felt as if he wanted to cry. He wanted to be loved too. _

_He wanted to make everyone happy. But he couldn't._

_"Nothing's ever good enough..." He whimpered and sniffed as he rubbed the water that was starting to frame his large eyes._

_His mother smiled gently and set his waffles down. She knelt down to look him in the eyes, wiping his tear away with a tender thumb. "Sasuke-kun will always be Sasuke-kun, no matter what he does wrong."_

_"And that will always be good enough no matter what it seems like."_

End of Flashback.

He saw the image of the kind, Asian woman with short, curled black hair from the video. In his memory, he paid closer attention to her eyes. No, those eyes weren't like his father's. They were nothing like his father's.

They loved.

He found himself at the town's middle school website on the window where he had searched up school competitions. But instead, it was a list of links that lead to information on the high-scorers of the district-wide mastery tests.

There was also a test taken on June 13th, six years ago.

He clicked on it and scanned the list.

Yin Tenten wasn't on there.

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Sasuke walked down an old fashioned street, with the houses still made of stone. He took one last drink of his canned tomato juice and threw it into the trashcan. Neji walked along with him, with a stiff dark green suit over his dress shirt.

"Tenten's worst performance was on that day." He looked down with his hands in his pockets.

Sasuke looked at him, expecting more from his answer to the question he gave him when they first met up at an intersection.

"Middle school district tests are always just another reason to give the advance kids to compete. It wasn't that Tenten didn't care, she did. But she didn't like math, it was just her parents that were on her back about it. Especially her mother." Neji took a turn and lead Sasuke down another street. "She was already a good student. Sure, she made a few mistakes, but that was common. But she really messed up that day. She didn't even make it in the top ten in the school."

He shrugged, "She wasn't happy about it, and I guess her parents weren't all that psyched either. Her mother happened to die on the same day too, nobody knows why, it's confidential." Once he thought about it, he looked at Sasuke with a question in his eyes. "But I guess that test must have really mattered."

"Because I think after that day, she turned into this."

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The puzzle was complete. Sasuke understood the situation now. Tenten's mother died on the same day of her disappointment on her exams. She committed suicide.

_**"She's going to kill her again."**_

_**"That person shamed someone to death."**_

_**"To cleanse some of the sins I've committed."**_

_That person _was Tenen, _She _was Tenten.

Tenten believed that her mother killed herself from the shame she brought upon the family.

But Sasuke knew that she was wrong. She had to be. He gripped his pencil tighter and felt it snap under the strength of his fingers. With nothing to release the tension he had inside him on, he only glared at his desk. Class was almost over anyway.

It didn't seem right for anyone to do something as cruel as Tenten's mother did. It wasn't true, just all in Tenten's mind. She just cared too much, it was just a coincidence. No one could be so selfish as to die leaving their daughter in such remorse. It was just inhuman.

Her mother, she seemed like she loved Tenten. Even though he saw her for only a few seconds, even if it was only an introduction by tape, he could see the difference between her mother and his father. When he saw her look at Tenten, he saw her as someone who placed a piece of her own heart in her, like someone who planted a seed. She wanted to watch her grow, watch her bloom into something that would make her daughter the happiest. Although Tenten may not think it was the best, she knew that she could be happy later...and if she was happy, then her heart would be happy.

Someone like that...someone like that couldn't have possibly planned on committing such a terrible thing to their daughter- a piece of their own heart. She would know that Tenten would suffer, right?

The last bell left his thoughts halted there as he strode quickly out of class. He packed everything he needed for the rest of the day into his briefcase before walking to the locker rooms.

He didn't bother hanging any longer with the other guys who found it amusing to wrestle half naked and spray each other with showering water as he changed quickly and walked out the back door.

The back of the school building was where all the courts were. It was pretty much an open filed with a ribbon pavement on the edge by the school wall for easy transportation. The courts were made of green, standard urban ground pavement white making lines. There were two courts in each section, three adjacent sections total, with each section fenced in using silver wires.

Sasuke had been planning to practice one last time before the tournament tomorrow, but found that (annoyingly) impossible because they were all taken. He would've walked right in and interrupted an amateur group if he hadn't noticed Tenten's father sitting on the risers, watching his daughter practice. He walked over and stood next to him.

He noticed Sasuke and smiled, "Ah, Uchiha-kun, you play tennis as well?"

Sasuke nodded and continued to watch Tenten hit the ball with incredible accuracy and control. Despite it was only practice, it looked like she was playing in a real tournament, like she couldn't afford a mistake- the way she was every time.

As she started to serve, midway with her arm in the air to reach the tossed ball, Sasuke saw her eyes meet his and then to her father. At just one glance of her father, a burst of autumn-brown flame lit her eyes. She leaned forward.

Ace.

The yellow-green streak slammed into the fence, imprinting a clang that echoed the air and leaving only a tennis ball stuck in between the wires. Her opponent stood, still bewildered at the sudden power he hadn't been expecting.

Was it him, or did she just gain a sudden strength when she saw her father watching?

Sasuke looked sideways and saw that her father's reaction was a nervous chuckle, "She's got a strong shoulder...it's almost as if she's completely healed..." But even he couldn't bring himself to believe that as his proud words didn't quite reach his eyes, neither did they hide the worry. But he asked, "Will I be seeing you tomorrow at Tenten-chan's tournament as well?"

He didn't quite wait for Sasuke's answer as he continued to talk more about his daughter, "Her mother and I started her on tennis, we were worried she wouldn't be athletic enough. But, I guess we were wrong." He smiled faintly at the memory, "She loved it."

_Loved? _Sasuke wondered why he had used past tense, but once he rethought, he realized it made sense. The girl on the courts right now, even if she was sprinting towards every shot and light on her feet...she didn't seem like she loved what she was doing at all. She seemed like she was in a fight for a life, trying to keep a cool composure.

"I still remember that she got into it so much, she told me someday she was going to be a final round in a big competition, and I was going to watch her win. I was going to be proud of her." The look on his face showed a father who cherished everything about his daughter, one who would treasure no matter what.

He stayed there for a long time in silence, until Sasuke wasn't sure if he was really seeing Tenten anymore but the same girl only from the memories he had six years back. Then finally, he got up, seeing that Tenten wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon, even though the moon was already high.

"I just hope she knows, that I can't be any more proud of her than I am right now." He whispered to himself.

He wished Sasuke a good night and walked off.

Sasuke didn't feel like playing anymore, instead he continued to watch Tenten play against the wall. She was the only person left on the courts now, but that didn't seem to bother her. Nothing seemed to flicker in her mind as she continued repeating the same strokes over and over, hitting the ball at the center of the racket, having the fluorescent blur rush into the wall only to bounce back, bouncing once on the ground...and it replicates over again.

Come to think of it, Tenten's life really was just a repeat day by day. There was nothing to be excited about. Everything was really just perfect. She gave up her happiness a long time ago for perfection.

And that perfection, that perfection was for her father. It was for her father out of love. Sasuke wondered as midnight grew closer, he found himself in awe at the melancholy whole prospect:

Love could bring so much more sacrifice than hate itself.

* * *

A/N: Post-Happy Thanksgiving! I'm grateful to all of you that read my fanfiction and even more grateful for those who COMMENT. Thank you! It's because of all you people that show that you like my work that I bother to continue.

Vocab:

Mama- Chinese for 'mom' or 'mommy'

Baba- Chinese for 'dad' or 'daddy'

And since I'm feeling so grateful (hey, it's Thanksgiving break, I'm a happy person when there's no school), I give thanks to my sister and my mom and dad, who encourage me to write. And all of my friends too.


	12. Disgraceful Doll, Perfect Daughter

**Chapter 12: Disgraceful Doll; Perfect Daughter**

"Advantage, Uchiha."

The sky lit the ground beneath its dreamland with the eye-blinking cerulean. The sun hung directly above the dome of vibrant-near-white air as an ornament shining its light upon the earth below. Beams of the sun glared over the green courts, sliding over the top of the audiences' head on the risers as some began to have tiny beads of sweat starting on their foreheads.

The only slight sign of relief from the heat was the upcoming rolling gray in the distance, but the clouds nearby were still cotton, pure white; innocent of any rain.

The two teenagers on the court withstood the high temperature as they stood in their athletic stance. The boy on the far end wiped the sweat building up on his eyebrows with a red wristband.

Sasuke sighed, bouncing the ball calmly with his deep blue racket, with the frame shining blindly in the noon-light. He looked up one last time at the umpire, secretly pissed at the fact that they got paid for sitting up on a high chair (thinking that they're all that) in leisure with an umbrella to shield them from the harsh sun. A person like that shouldn't be deciding what was fair and what wasn't.

The last point he had won was the sixth deuce, something that Sasuke was not happy about with himself, especially since the point was the match point and it was incredibly humid for spring. The impatience that flickered in his gray eyes matched the dark, forest green polo T-shirt he was forced to wear (it was the school color). The dark brown cargo shorts he was wearing didn't help with the heat either, but the black headband he wore kept the sun from his eyes.

He allowed the ball to hit the ground and rebound into his hands one last time, and then threw it high into the air. He felt a push against his arm, and the strings making contact with the force. A streak of yellow whipped over the net from over his head and into the opposite service box. Sasuke stepped over the service line and into the court. He responded quickly to the return shot and saw that it was short, giving him a chance at an approach shot. He made a forehand with a short back swing, controlling it to the other side from where his opponent still was.

The other boy was fast and dashed to save the strong, powerful shot Sasuke made. He managed to reach to the ball with a stumble, but it turned to be a slicing lob.

_Finally. _Sasuke thought as the ball came high over him and he backed up slightly with one arm raised for aim and the other behind him waiting for the right moment. He looked up into the sky, focusing on only the yellow-green spot spinning down closer to him...

"Match, Uchiha."

The ball hit the ground with a silence-shattering smash and reappeared at the other side of the court behind the opponent.

Before the audience could take the umpire's announcement in, a voice cheered in a loud, carefree, eager chirp, "Yay! Uchiha-kun!"

Sasuke knew that voice anywhere, he sighed inwardly even before turning his head to see Sakura standing among the seated crowd and waving with a huge smile- too excited to hide her happiness for him.

Following her lead, the audience politely clapped for the winner. Sasuke shook hands with his opponent over the net and then walked to the side to get his turn to shake the umpire's hands. Then, he walked to his seat at the side of the court and took a drink of his water before throwing on his green, school team sweatshirt.

He took his tennis bag with him and headed towards the bleachers where he saw his team with Sakura as well.

Sakura was the first to congratulate him (again). "You won!" She clapped with her eyes squeezed shut in pure joy, as if she was the one who had won. Her lilt in her voice rung a naive happiness as she stared at him with huge, spring green eyes. She stated it as if he didn't already know that.

She waved her hands up and down, pretending she had an imaginary racket. "You were like this and that!" She made an incorrect serving motion, "And then there was a wham!" She the momentum from the wild swing she took made her spin in a circle. "Then bam!" She threw her arms open and suddenly lost balance from the last spin she made. She fell.

Looking up at Sasuke sheepishly, she met his slightly bemused, dark eyes. "Ahaha~"

He looked down at her, with her jade-jeweled sparkle in her eyes contrasting against her cotton candy hair. The color in both her personality and face matched well with her angel-white sundress and the thin, pastel pink sweater she wore over it. The dress was tied with a pink ribbon and dotted with roses on the ties.

He offered her a hand while sighing, showing how he disapproved of her clumsiness. She graciously took it and jumped right back up, unfazed by the fall and still talkative.

He noticed Tenten's absence among his team as they went over his game play and praised him.

Neji answered his unasked question as they headed as a group to a nearby diner's. "Tenten's still in her match."

They walked down the crowded path, crossing by many souvenir shops. The tournament was taking place at an official, professional arena with a huge land area. Not only were there many courts, but many shops and restaurants as well- places to loiter. It was almost like a real, professional tournament.

The Konezuku tennis team seated themselves inside a restaurant. Most of them didn't order anything, since it was already mid-noon. The only reason they went in was to hide from the heat.

Lee toyed with his straws attempting to engage in a straw duel with an uninterested Suigetsu. Suigetsu ignored the poking of the straw on his arms as he put a hand to his cheek showing his boredom. "Yo Uchiha, that last move wasn't all that bad."

Neji raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly, as if he had some sort of private joke that he planned not to share.

Suigetsu seemed to have got it and his nasty, pissed attitude triggered. "What Hyuuga? Anything wrong with praising someone?"

Neji pointed out bluntly, "No. Absolutely not." He then smirked, "I just find it ironic how your tone seems as if you were superior, yet you lost this round."

Sasuke felt somewhat satisfied by this inside, knowing that he had now advanced further than Suigetsu. No wonder why Suigetsu didn't tell him his status in the tournament right away.

Suigetsu scowled, with no comeback. Instead, he grouchily knocked away Lee's straw and snapped, "Piss off."

Sasuke looked out the window and saw a girl with two, black haired buns tied to each side of her head walking closer to the door. She wore a white visor with a halter top tennis dress that matched of the same color. However, she was smarter than Sasuke with her outwear; she found a way that included the team colors without overheating herself. At one side of the hem, there were green oriental-style flowers swirling and intertwining along brown vines. Her visor was matching as well.

When the door swung open and she walked in, Lee automatically jumped up and dashed towards her. "Tenten! Bless us with your news!"

She looked at him with hollow eyes, but gave a small smile, "I won." She said softly.

Lee cheered, causing a commotion in the restaurant, so the waitress had to calm him down. But that didn't stop the stares he was getting, his outfit was to blame; with his tight, green, one-piece jumpsuit, anyone not already used to him would've found him disturbing.

As she took a seat with them, their coach cave her a hearty slap on the back, causing her to lurch forward from the strength. Unfortunately, none of the other (normal) coaches could make it. Instead, they were stuck with Gai-sensei, who was Lee's absolute idol (which tells a lot about him already). Both he and Lee stood up simultaneously to give the team some encouragement (or unease if you looked at it from Sasuke's point of view), with their teeth-sparkling smiles, attempted charming winks, and a big thumbs up. To make their team look like even more of a laughing stock, their caoch wore the same exact thing as Lee, and the green latex made his sculpted muscles look even shinier in the sun.

"We shall succeed and find our place into the sunset!" Gai announced.

Tears poured our of Lee's eyes as her exclaimed, "What beautiful words, Gai-sensei! So encouraging!" The rest of the team either pretended not to know them, or watched them with amusement of their stupidity. None of them were touched like Lee, they were only annoyed.

Lee bawled on. "One hundred laps! For you Gai-sensei!" He ran off.

Gai was now theatrically sobbing for his student's loyalty. "Lee, you wonderful student! I shall train with you!" He ran off with flames in his eyes, leaving the team in silent amazement.

Tenten didn't seem to have been paying attention to the whole act as she was still staring out the window. Her eyes peered out the glass in such a distant way that it seemed like she wasn't really trying to see the scene directly outside, but much further. To all the other girls in the team congratulating her, she might've seemed independent and strong on her own. But Sasuke could see a small seed of worry growing, with a potential to fracture that shell of confidence.

There was a fear inside her, a fear that what she was thinking might come true.

"He'll come." Sasuke said quietly to her under his breath. He knew her father would come. He knew that that her father would want to see Tenten reach her childhood dream, the one he gave her to achieve for him. He knew her father wanted to find that little girl inside of his daughter now, the little girl in the past that was free to be herself. Supporting her, winning, would let him get closer to find the real daughter he missed so much. He had to come because...he loved her.

And for the first time, when she turned to look at him, he saw honest feeling in her eyes.

He saw hope.

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Passing time can morph to be a bomb waiting to explode- where you start with denying so that you actually make yourself believe that everything is okay, that you have still time before that very second you know you are doomed; but slowly...you realize...

That you're wrong.

The tournament tree twined tighter, nearing to the final match. Over each round, half of the group left standing would have their chances at being slashed off the chart. Eventually, Yin Tenten and Uchiha Sasuke were the only two contenders from Konezuku High School left.

Sasuke was kept busy with matches, and he rarely found himself worried about losing. Yet as the rounds advanced, he came closer to nearly losing some matches. Still, he wasn't as upset as he expected himself to be. In reality- being the best didn't really matter to him at the moment.

Instead, he found himself thinking about Tenten's father, wondering if he had come for her yet. He was hoping he did. He wanted Tenten to see that she didn't have to be perfect for him to love her. He wanted to show Tenten to see that her father loved her too much to leave her.

He wanted Tenten to be free. Free of something he had been burdened of before.

Something he had never experienced before, something that was never explained to him about: you can hurt in more ways than one. Nobody ever told him that just looking at someone, knowing a secret, can hurt. Because it did. He knew that Tenten's pain was something he would never feel, because he would never love, but somehow, it hurt in another way.

Her father still wasn't here yet, but something told Sasuke that Tenten didn't want to accept it yet. She wanted to believe he was making his way here for her.

He never had a chance to watch Tenten play her games, but he did find her on her own. that time alone was her time to show the pain in her shoulder that she'd been hiding during the game. Showing injury during games would show weakness, something that would disappoint her father. Showing injury meant admitting that she wasn't capable of being the best, being perfect. And she didn't want to admit that. She wanted to think that if she tried hard enough, she could be perfect. The only reason why she wasn't perfect right now was because she just wasn't enough. She was never enough.

Once, he saw her in a hallway, slamming herself into the wall, trying to adjust her shoulder back into the right socket. And even then, she never allowed herself to shed a tear as she bit her lip and did what she could, she endured.

Neji seemed worried as well. Sasuke caught him checking on the pairings every time a round ended. However, instead of seeming happy when he saw Tenten's name still on the roster, his eyes clouded with frustration. Sasuke felt somewhat the same. He understood. He would've felt better if she had lost: then maybe, she wouldn't have to hold the strain in her shoulder back anymore.

It was odd, how it seemed that the people closest to her, knew her the most, knew her little secret, were the people who really didn't care whether she won or not.

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Whistles whirred in the air, only slightly more perceivable through the crowd cheers as families and friends rose from their seats in spirited encouragement. The benches and audience towered over the ground, surrounding the clay ground that seemed small compared to the observers overhead. Faces, both recognizable and complete strangers, every one was facing towards the tennis court. This time, all the attention, all the energized eyes, were on one court only. All waiting for the outcome.

Two figures could be seen on opposite sides of the court. Two girls. One winner.

The atmosphere high up in the stands were nothing compared to the one below. The aura below was as if the air was a small string being stretched as taut as possible, waiting to break any moment. Waiting to snap.

"We have so got this trophy in the bag!" A girl leaned over the wall grinned. Her tennis polo showed the Konezuku High School symbol on the back, shining under the hot sun. But the gleaming sun seemed like only a dim light muffled by her smile, which was glowing with confidence.

Another girl came up and slapped hands with her, grinning at Tenten, who was sipping her water quietly. "Yeah, totally! Tenten, you've beaten this wimp before by a long shot. There's no way this girl can win!"

Sasuke watched Tenten listen to her two other teammates from afar, sitting by the benches where the guys of the team were. He wasn't sure if she could even hear the two gushing about their win, if it was going to be a win. Looking at her stony face, it seemed as if she was planning for the worst. It didn't look like she was seeing herself winning at all. No, it looked like she was staring at something else. Pressure.

He noticed the shadows beginning to loom the green court and directed his eyes up the sky. Clouds were beginning to creep over to the sun, trying to sap away some of the sunlight. Sap away the light. The gray had a heavy feeling to it, as the normal lightness of the puffs had an odd denseness. Something was weighing down on it, something too intense that it seemed on the verge of breaking through. Crashing down to the ground.

Was it an omen?

Sasuke shook it off as he realized Neji wasn't among the team. He silently slipped away for a moment, planning to get a drink when he realized his water bottle was empty from his last game. He entered the large hallway and saw the tiny shadow beneath his sneakers, with the sickly yellow lights stretching over him. The polished blue floor squeaked under him as he shut the large door. He found Neji under the large clock by the water fountain and joined him.

Neji leaned against the wall, letting the ticking of the clock overcome the silence. The dark fogginess over his face as he stared at the ground was noticeable, with the shadows over his eyes. He gave a small snort, "So, you lost the quarterfinals, huh?"

Sasuke never answered his comment. "The match is about to start."

Neji sensed Sasuke's eyes look towards the tournament matching behind him. "She's beaten her before in her last tournament."

Sasuke stuck his hands into his pocket. "So the match must be an easy win then."

But they both knew how wrong that was.

Neji looked up into the mechanical light, almost as if he was looking at the sky. "The clouds are starting to block the sun."

Now it was Sasuke's turn to snort. But in a way, he really only did it not because he thought the comment was stupid. He did it because he wanted to hide how much he thought Neji's meaning behind the ones he said was true. "What, do you believe in old wives' tales?"

Neji didn't deny it, nor did he agree. He only left Sasuke with a thought, "That day when she hurt her shoulder, it was cloudy as well. Everyone thought she would win, but in the end,"

"she lost."

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First serve, very first hit to start the match.

The two girls had shaken hands over the hand to wish each other good luck. But "good luck" is always a lie: luck never decides a match. Not only that, but in the end, someone would end up sad. Someone would have to pay for the other's happiness. Everybody couldn't be happy at the same time.

Tenten won the first set, 6-4. It wasn't surprising, people were already assuming she would win. But during that first set, Sasuke saw that the veil over her eyes couldn't hide how much she yearned to win. In the other games before, she played mechanically, as if every game was the same: she had to win. And she did. But this time, it was different.

This time, this was what she thought would decide who she truly was. This game would decide if she was an honor or a disgrace. It was like the whole time before; she was balancing on a tightrope between shame and pride. This very final match would end the teetering. Once the scores were final, that was it. That was what she would be stuck with. A winner.

Or a loser.

To be ashamed.

To be proud.

To be hated.

To be loved.

When someone is under pressure, they can't help but be more cautious, more aware of what they are doing. Because if they make a mistake, that memory of ruining would carve itself into the brain- so that it would be the one thing you would remember the next time you look back.

Sasuke could see Tenten's arm gracefully swung across her shoulder each time she set her feet and hit the ball. But there was as if some sort of wall pushing against her arm, suppressing her arm to freely use its strength, a wall of doubt. As if all the careful, risk-free shots she took were never good enough.

Her shoulder was also stiff as well, but she seemed to have ignored it. After all, a bothering shoulder can be easily healed.

But a broken heart cannot.

She wanted to remember this game as something that she never had before: something perfect. Something of a moment that everyone would refer back to. People usually like to believe that there is a certain moment where miracles can happen. That in that one second, life would change for the better.

And then there is that moment in life when they realize:

Miracles don't exist.

The moment the umpire had called the finished set point for Tenten, and the two passed by each other to switch court sides...the moment Tenten turned her head to look into the audience: there was a ruby-wood shimmer in her eyes- hope. And there was the smallest curve over her lips, as if she was expecting to smile for someone there...expecting for happiness to fill her...

But the smile fell as she found herself turning her eyes to strangers. Sasuke saw her look to all sides of her. There was a jump in her eyes, fright like prey. Frightened to have her hopes crushed.

Sasuke looked around the audience, looking for the some person that she was. The same person she was here for. The only person she ever wanted to be proud of her.

Where washer father?

By the end of the break and when the second set starting, Tenten was losing focus. Sasuke saw the flame of hatred and anger for herself rising each time she made an unforced error. She could've made fewer mistakes, if she hadn't been looking into the crowd so much.

Each time she made a good shot, each time the audience cheered, that very same small smile would start up in her eyes as she turned to the crowd. And each time she made a good shot, each time the audience cheered, that smile would break...closer and closer to dejection.

Everything someone does, every goal someone tries to reach has an inspiration, the one thing they reach to for strength to go on. It's what encourages them, and sometimes, when they see that one tiny thing cheering for them, they'll find the power inside them that'll suddenly shine. Her father was that one inspiration. He was the reason she fought, he was the one person she would try to find behind her, watching her. And just with his kind eyes on her, she would find strength.

But he wasn't there, and she started losing that power. As she played on with the second set, that piece of her that still wanted to play for his pride was breaking away. Reality started to dissolve her hope that her father was hiding in the crowd. That she still had someone to play for. But she knew she didn't.

And when there is nothing to play for, no strength to draw...you begin to lose not only the goal...but yourself.

She lost the second set, and the pain started to settle into her arm. She had stopped looking into the crowd with searching eyes and started to focus on the game, but it was too late: without her father there, without her father there to believe in her, she lost her determination, her confidence.

Yet she wanted so much to win. Now, she wanted to prove her father that she was worth watching. She wanted to go home and show him that trophy in her arms. She walk home and find herself in his arms.

The hurt in her shoulder was reaching her eyes now, and even the team on the side benches could tell. But they never told her to stop: they knew she would refuse.

It was deuce and match point. Ad out with Tenten serving, meaning this one serve could save her and give her the chance to win, or she would lose.

Losing. Losing meant losing too much for her. She couldn't lose. She had worked so hard...

She threw the ball up into the air.

Everything depended on this...everything. She had to prove this to her mother, was she watching? Was she going to watch her win, watch her show that she was really different now? Was she going to be proud when Tenten had the trophy in her hands, when Tenten's father would tell everyone how proud he was of her?...

The ball hit the ground.

The racket hit the ground.

The crack that snapped in her shoulder splintered the air. She fell to the ground clutching her shoulder, pain screamed her ear. Maybe it was better that way, so then, she couldn't hear her loss.

It was over.

She had lost.

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Thunder splintered the solemn, humid buzz- splintering through gray clouds to expose the darkness of its shadows compared to lightning-white. It roared, breaking the peace, while the sky unleashed the sorrow it hid in its gray. The clouds cried; they shed tears.

Their tears fell to the ground, rapidly so that the only reason why one could tell that it was rain- instead of mist- was because of the wetness spotting the red, clay courts. Droplets fell to the ground, shattering into smaller teardrops, like bits of glass filled with sadness from above.

Puddles formed over the courts, reflecting back up at the hazy-fog air while having their tranquil surfaces broken by more raindrops, sinking ripples into the mirror image.

But one puddle's reflection was not the sky: it was a tennis ball. The image of it was small, but grew bigger as it was denied the chance to fly forever and fell into the water with a splash: as if it was meant to wake the small ball up to reality.

The soaked ball rolled over to the corner, as if rejected. But it was not alone, there were more ragged, dirty tennis balls lying with it. As if each and everyone had once shown promise- fluorescent with color-, but was now thrown away.

Another one joined, and then another. Each one fell to the ground slowly with suffering, as if falling to the ground was meant as a slow, punishing death. They hit the red court with a feeble squish, and slowly hit the back wall with a small thud. The continuousness was so consistent, it almost sounded like a heartbeat. A dying heartbeat.

Because Sasuke could tell that the time in between when each ball hit the ground was stretching longer and longer; the power and assurance of the thuds were weaker. And like everything else in nature, slowing down leads to a halt...weakening leads to death.

But the figure serving in the rain didn't care. That person seemed to want to let the rain drench her- cry on her to remind her of agony. Chill her- let her numb to ice the burning inside, let her feel nothing.

Kill her- punish her for her sin, her ugly heart.

That figure was Tenten.

The once-neatly tied hair was falling, heavy with rainwater as she looked only forward and raised her arm again. Those eyes, they seemed to have been seeing nothing but the one thing that could not be touched: grief. The girl Sasuke saw in the rain wasn't a girl; she was a shell, hollow and empty. That doll- the girl- couldn't feel anything, as she swung her arm over and over, an eternal routine of aching as Sasuke could see the joint breaking down.

But she ignored it: that pain was nothing compared to the one she felt inside.

It was all over. The very dream she had planted for her father, the one she had been nurturing for years in hope of a beautiful blossom, died. And she was the very one who killed it...as well as her father's pride.

As so she should suffer under her own anger.

Each serve, each raise of the arm, each throbbing of the shoulder whispered a girl who wanted to accuse a criminal who had committed all the crimes possible of heartache.

You were too weak.

_You never tried hard enough._

_You lied to your mother._

_You let down your father._

_You are a dishonor._

_You are nothing._

_You deserve to suffer._

_You deserve all of this._

"Enough."

The ball dropped to the ground at her feet, her hands were empty as her arms were still in the air. Sasuke stood as a shadow behind her, he couldn't take it anymore; watching her under pain was worse enough.

Watching her torturing herself was unbearable.

And as if the poisonous reality of the whole thing- that she had failed the very hope her father had loved about her the most- finally reached to her body, she sunk to her knees. She looked up into the sky and tried holding back the new tears welling up her eyes, hot against the icy drops piercing her face that rolled down her cheeks. But it was useless, because the truth that she had tried to avoid six years ago, the truth she had known all along, had already been carved:

She would never be perfect.

And so she cried away only a few of the infinite tears that had been locked away for years.

Her tears, flooding the earth.

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Wind blew. Caressing the white curtains, blowing them inwards from the squared window. Evening light streaked over bed sheets, bringing a yellow glow over pillows as a breeze whispered past the wood frame of a chair beside the bed. Gold squares slid over the floor, radiating the back of the forest green T-shirt wearer that sat in the chair in front of the window.

The girl in the bed was staring at her hands in her lap, letting the gentle wind sigh into her black hair, brushing her cheeks. She sat propped up against the pillows; with the sunset-ginger illuminate her eyes to bring the scarlet out.

The nurse, dressed in the traditional white skirt and top flipped to a page on her clipboard, tapping it with the pencil she had pulled out from her brown hair. She had the usual polite smile on her face: the cheery one that reassured patients that they were okay. She walked over to place the heating pad over Tenten's shoulder and then headed out the door. "What a coincidence! Your father's in the room right across."

The clacking of her footsteps faded away as she headed further down the hallway wing. Now the only sound left was the one that couldn't be heard: silence.

"He knew."

Sasuke, the one sitting on the chair beside her, raised his head and looked at her. Her eyes showed emotion, a glowing heat trying not to burst, not to cause the words inside her to create a fire of anger...guilt...despair...

He knew how horrible she felt- a shameful ache that seemed indescribable in words. Tennis had been something she started because of her father; something that her father would be the most proud of out of all her talents.

That tennis match: had she been dreaming about it? Dreaming about walking up to the center of the court, hearing the loud whistles and cheers- so many impressed comments that her ears could no longer take it all in at one-, holding the large trophy in her hand while the cameras flashed...And then turning to the audience to see that very person she had played for; his smile, his pride, his love- the true prize.

None of it happened.

She didn't win.

Her father was never there to even see her. There was no one to look for.

He let her continue.

The smoothed, white bed sheets crumpled underneath her hands as she tightened them. "He knew already, before the tournament started."

"He knew I'd fail."

The calm, frosty look silked over her face seemed as if she had already accepted it. "And that's why he's in the hospital now, he couldn't face the dishonor I would bring."

She whispered, "All this time, I promised I would be different. I gave up everything to be the best in everything."

She squeezed her eyes shut as she finally let loose the words she had never wanted to hear.

"But I was wrong. It was all useless. I'm still the same."

The harsh truth echoed in the room as she said loudly not for Sasuke but to herself.

"I'm still useless."

The scrape of the chair legs pushing over the floor resounded right after her words. Sasuke pushed his chair back and stood up, he walked out the room in contained anger.

"You're wrong."

He didn't want to believe her words. They were like venom, trying to enter his mind, trying to get him to believe they were true. But they weren't. They couldn't be. Tenten's father couldn't have been in the hospital because of suicide. He couldn't have abandoned her on purpose. He couldn't have been planning to leave her alone. He loved her. He had to.

Sasuke wanted him to. He wanted to see Tenten have the family he never had; someone who loved her for her, to be free from the ropes of high expectations. Maybe then, through watching her be happy again, through knowing that she was unbound and could be herself...he could gain the same feeling too.

He found the room Tenten's father was being taken under care of and walked in; the door was open anyway.

He found Tenten's father already awake, looking out the window and listening to the birds chirp. The expression on his face didn't make it seem as if he was really enjoying the trills and cadences. He looked like he was worried about something further away from him, something deeper inside.

He noticed Sasuke at the door and gave a smile weak like water. "Uchiha-kun, how did you know I was here?"

Sasuke went over and took a seat on the sofa by the television. He faced the elderly man, but didn't reply to his question, reluctant to tell him about his daughter's injury. He didn't want to worry him even more, but he also wanted an explanation about his absence.

But her father seemed more intent on talking about his daughter, and the question that had been keeping him sleepless was asked. "How is she?"

Sasuke decided to skip the part about the tournament, because he suspected- knew- that he didn't care about whether she won or lost. "She's banned from tennis. Forever."

He looked down at the white sheets, the same faded sadness lining his smile; frozen permanently with the strength to look okay on the outside, but miserable within. "I see."

"I was on my way there, I wanted to get her a new racket as a surprise. I suddenly felt so dizzy right in the middle of the road. I apparently fainted..."

Sasuke's answer wasn't the exact answer he was looking for. But he had answered his question anyway. He wanted to see if _she _was okay, not her future, not her shoulder, not her talent.

"She lost...didn't she?"

Sasuke nodded.

As if all the pain his daughter felt was now burdening his heart, he put his hands to his head. His voice was choked with guilt as he tried to repent for how she must have felt there without his support. "It's all my fault isn't it? I should've been there for her."

"She must hate me. I'm such a horrible father...what have I done..."

"It's all my fault."

That was the one thing about this family: they all expected too much from themselves. Selfless and happy to take the hurt in no matter what, as long as their loved ones don't feel the pain. Yet, that was the reason why both were hurting: seeing each other sacrifices.

Sasuke saw the dark shadow shift from the doorway, hiding behind the wall. He excused himself silently, leaving Tenten's farther in his remorse as he walked back out into the quiet hallway. He looked to the side and saw Tenten facing the doorway by the side of the door with a shadow over her face.

She had heard everything.

The look on Sasuke's face seemed dark, but calm, knowing that she was wrong. The gray onyx in his eyes gave her a strong message to go inside and talk to her father. Tenten ignored it; she had been already planning to go in the moment he stepped out.

She lingered for a moment, allowing Sasuke pass by in an unspoken aura of confused thoughts as he paused by her side; him facing one way and her facing the other. Then, she took a step inside.

She stood at the door, halfway inside, yet still halfway out. She was still unsure of herself as she watched her father weaken under his guilt from afar. She seemed to softened for a moment, wanting to comfort her father and say it was okay. But her face turned frigid when it sunk into her that she was the reason why her father was wounded- in both ways. She wanted to turn away and cut the bonds between them for him, so he wouldn't have to suffer with the shame of raising such a horrible daughter each time he looked at her, talked to her. She didn't want him to even remember her...so maybe if she ran away, he would heal. But her feet were planted. Somewhere inside her searched for love from him, she knew she was too scared to face the feeling of being truly alone. She didn't want to give up her father, even if it caused him grief, and she hated herself for it.

Her father looked up and saw Tenten was watching him. He quickly covered up the anger raging inside and with one glance at his daughter, the frustration and hurt subsided- as if she was a cure to his aching. His eyes were amber- a warm fire heating the coldest of winters- as he patted the bed and called out in a gentle voice, "Why don't you sit by me, Tenten-chan?"

In between the two, they had both realized how long it had been since they've had a real conversation. And yet it wasn't because they hated each other; they were too busy loving.

Tenten awkwardly took slow steps inside, deciding to cloak her emotions, locking everything that threatened to spill. She pulled up a stool and sat by him, almost like a porcelain doll: pretty and perfect, yet easy to shatter and see what's inside- realizing that it's not flawless.

"How are you?" There were so many things he could've said- if she was okay, how sorry he was, how much he loved her...But that one question, one question of three words asked everything. With that one question, could respond in any way she wanted. She could tell him anything. Everything.

Her eyes had a flat sheen to them, rusted steel for a shield. Shielding her weakness: his sympathy and forgiveness. She wanted the truth. And she knew the truth would be one that hurt her: he could never forgive her for being such a failure. That soft voice he would use: they spoke lies. He should hate her for her carelessness. He should think that she didn't care about him enough. Because she didn't. She may have tried her best, but she didn't care enough to win. She didn't care enough to make him proud.

She didn't want to hear that lying voice. She wanted to hear the true him on the inside. Because to her, that loving voice seemed even more frightening than a stern, furious yell. Rage could bring her to reality, hurt herself even more. That's what she deserved; anger, hate. But a caring voice, a caring voice brought that little girl trapped inside her to fight harder. A caring voice tempted the perfect doll that she had created for herself to fade. A caring voice would bring her back to the girl she was- the one that killed her mother.

And if that girl could bring unbearable humiliation to one parent, she could do the same to the only last parent she had.

So she tried making herself empty, so his words could not touch her heart. So she couldn't be fooled into believing she was a good daughter the way she was. But she knew it wasn't possible- she loved her father too much to throw away everything. No matter how much of herself she tried eliminating, her father would always stay.

"I lost." Her voice was steely, a blade combating in a battle against her emotions. She had to overcome them, take control.

_I lost. _She lost the tournament, underneath that, she had lost much more. The tournament, the tournament meant nothing. Everything had had given a piece of her old self up to meant nothing. A single piece of a puzzle that stretches on unendingly, place a group together and they make still, only a part- perfection-, piece those together and then you create the larger pieces- pride-, and eventually they shift into a whole- love. Yet the fragments could never unify completely: perfection is unsolvable, and if you can't solve one part of the puzzle, the whole thing can never truly be complete.

That thought struck Tenten again, and slowly inside, she was crumbling. With her head down, she squeezed her eyes shut, remembering that crying showed a weak girl. She wanted to be strong. Her lower lip quivered.

Her father could see something crying inside his daughter, and finally he saw. He caught a glimpse of a little girl trapped inside, wanting to come out. He caught a glimpse of an older girl, confused, and through all the hurt had lost herself to emptiness. He saw that she thought she had lost his pride and love. He saw that she was hurting. He saw his daughter.

He hugged her.

The feeling of warmth: his arms wrapped protectively around her, wanting to take away all the sorrow, the faint smell of home, bringing all the wistful memories back, the thumping of his heart, feeling the living care for her...everything broke right through the shell.

She cried.

She let her tears soak into the back of his hospital gown, she couldn't hold it back anymore: she let herself want to share her pain. Her tears were a comforting hotness that trailed down her cheeks that felt warm to let go as they left an invisible shadow of freedom, freedom of being able to reach for help. She buried her face into her father's shoulder; the wetness that warmed his skin told him she was lost.

"Oh Tenten-chan, I should've been there for you-"

She shook her head; her voice came in a high pitch. "No." Her guilt and anguish strangled her voice and she hiccupped. "It's all my fault. It's all my fault that you're here. You knew that I would lose and you tried to leave me." She held him tighter, her fist forming a tight grip on his shirt.

"Tenten, you know I would never leave you. Never in my life." He said in a strong voice, stronger and surer than anything he had ever said before. He held her even closer, as if she could never be close enough.

She shook her head, her voice muffled. "But that's what Mama said." She sobbed even harder, "And she left too. And it was all because of me. I didn't try hard enough on math and she didn't want to live anymore because of me. It was all because I was so horrible." She said in a disgusted tone, still scared to be herself. "I don't want you to go Baba. Don't go."

He drew her away from him to look her in the eyes. They were red from crying, and tears were still pouring from her eyes. That was fine, that didn't matter. What did was that behind the tawny brown glittering through the water on her eyelashes, she was terrified.

He held her shoulder and whispered fiercely, "Your mother left because she was sick, Tenten. She was dying from an illness and she didn't want you to suffer for her. She left because she loved you. Not because she was ashamed of you."

She was never a burden. All of her torture, her hard work...all of it was for nothing. His words, she believed they were true, they brought her relief.

She was free.

She threw herself back into her father's arms and cried even more. "I just want you to be happy. I want to be perfect so you can love me. Baba, I want you to be proud of me. I want you to be proud so you can never want to leave." She hiccupped.

He closed his eyes and let her hold him tighter, finally feeling at peace. "I would be proud of you no matter what. You're my daughter, I'll always love you." And then as if the memory brought back hurt, he embraced her even more protectively. "I'll always be your father. And I'll always be happy when you're happy, sad when you're sad..."

The two remained in their embrace, allowing their tears and sadness to bond them together; making up for the lost years they had spent in emptiness.

Sasuke stood in the shadows of the hallway, leaning on the wall. He looked at the floor, watching his shadow being engulfed by the darkness cast by the walls. The ray of orange sun that lighted a long trapezoid of the ground was coming from the open door he stood by. He made sure to stay out of the light, as he continued to listen to the repenting of a father and his daughter. His breath was silent and unheard, like how he felt on the inside- finally tranquil.

"Did it hurt?" Tenten asked, she wanted to know if he had been seriously injured in the accident.

He had felt nothing in the accident, that pain was nothing. But it hurt to see her losing the shine in her eyes, it hurt to see her so lonely and confused, it hurt to lose a daughter to an invisible shell of fear.

"Of course it did."

"I'm sorry Baba."

He smiled gently, but she couldn't see, her head was still over his shoulder, calm with the warmth she felt at her skin. He whispered caringly, "Do you know what will always me proud, Tenten?"

"Be yourself."

* * *

A/N: And there you go, that's the end of the Tenten arc. Did you all like it? I hope so! This arc was a bit harder for me to do than Hinata's, and hopefully I'll get better as I go. But you're feedbacks really help, so keep them up!

Sorry about last week. I know, I know, I didn't update. I was busy with...well, stuff. Actually, I myself have a math competition coming up (yes, just like Tenten...except not so smart. Haha.), so I'm spending about 3 hours each day of the weekend with math. Whoopdeedoo.

I might not be able to update next week either, but I will get a lot of time to write since my family's planning to take a vacay to Las Vegas for the holidays. (yeah, hitting the casinos...nah, I'm underage.)

Any way, I'm pretty sure there are no new vocab words. If there are, just ask me.

The next girl that's going to be featured is...well, I guess I'll save that as a surprise. But still: All comments and reviews are deeply (VERY VERY deeply) appreciated.


	13. Unfamiliar, Despised

**Chapter 13: Unfamiliar, Despised**

Sasuke finishing the last scribble on his signature and placed the pen back on to the clipboard. The elevator rung behind him as more people arrived on the same floor. Nurses and doctors bustled down the halls with no time to waste, pushing carts of syringes and such. The sound of high heels and other shoes clicked on the clean, polished floor. Families sat on sofas; older patients passed time by reading magazines while mothers accompanied their children with the toys.

Sasuke wrote in the visiting time and headed towards the wing behind him. Sakura poked her head into each room they passed by behind him, apologizing to the strangers, but not really sorry: she was too excited to be. She skipped, "Ne~ are we there yet?"

She could've been waiting for hours, at least, that was what it sounded like. But in reality, the trip down the hall was only a minute.

"You act like a kid." Sasuke looked to his left and noticed that the bed was completely neat, with no sign of occupation, except for a small glass cup halfway filled with juice.

"That's because Sakura is a kid!" She giggled as if he had just stated the silliest thing, "And Sakura wants to see her friend now!"

He walked down a bit further and then looked through the open doorway on the right. There was only empty one bed, with the sheets crumpled and already slept in, but the person seemed too busy to remake it. A thick quilt laid on the ground right next to the bed, with a separate pillow set on the end of it, almost like a sleeping bag. The window was open, with the breeze blowing on the white curtains, causing them to billow inwards. Morning sunrays shone through the fabric, glowing yellow over the tabletop that stood by it and stretching to the middle of the room.

The sky-gold reached its way to strands of black hair, and then to brown-amber eyes as a hand reached over to a chess piece on the board and placed a knight on to a black square.

"Check."

Tenten sat on a white pillow from the disheveled bed on her knees with her back facing the sunlight. She faced a wooden chessboard with small chessmen set in a middle of a battle, concentrated on her white pieces.

Her father sat opposite of her with a hand propped under his chin, deep in thought as well. Finally, he moved his black king and chuckled while sighing, "Ah, Tenten-chan, I'm getting too old for this game."

"Maybe I should give you take-backs next time." A girl's voice- confident, teasing and slightly tomboyish high tone- replied. The voice wasn't guarded, soft, nor monotone...yet...it belonged to Tenten.

She stretched out her legs and sat cross-legged. Despite it was considered traditionally impolite, she gave up on sitting with a straight back on her knees. She took the queen and dragged it nearer to the king. "Check again." She seemed confident.

Her father sighed. He didn't seem exhausted, but enjoying the game of chess with his daughter. Both didn't seem intent on winning. Just the fact that the game included each other was enough. Nothing was at stake. He smiled and shook his head in amazement. He laughed warmly, "And just a few years ago, you were the one asking for the take-backs." He was about to move his king again when he looked over at the door and noticed their visitors.

That was Sakura's cue to join in, ruining the serene, thoughtfulness of the mood and blending it into a cheery bounce. She bounded into the room and leaped onto Tenten, wrapping her arms around her neck. "Tenten-sensei-chan!"

Tenten waved her left arm around stiffly, trying to catch her breath as she made gagging noises. She met Sasuke's eye and winked behind Sakura's back.

Sakura drew back, not noticing the teasing shine in Tenten's hazel-blazed eyes and the joke curved over her lips. She frantically continued to bow while fussing over her shoulder. "Ah!" She gasped. "I forgot, your shoulder! Gomenasai! Gomenasai! Gomenasai!"

Tenten laughed at how gullible Sakura was and waved it off. "I'm fine, I'm fine. But geez." She craned her neck, "You've got one heck of a hug."

Sakura looked down at her toes, "Gomenasai...Tenten-sensei-

She interrupted her with a light karate chop on the head. "No way. You are _not_ calling me by that." She snorted, "I mean, sure, I'm a nerd, but you can't go around calling me 'sensei'"

Sasuke stood nest to her father as he watched Sakura and Tenten chat like old friends.  
"She's changed." His father quietly spoke with tranquil warmth in his voice. He smiled gently as he continued to watch his daughter-and only his daughter- with eyes of those who loved.

Sasuke didn't need him to tell him that- it was obvious. This girl, this girl with a laughable sense of humor talking to Sakura...this girl couldn't be Tenten. Tenten didn't talk with clever and funny sarcasm, she didn't laugh with a boyish snort, she didn't have a bemused smile with a faint smirk...Yet this girl shared the same name as her. Tenten. That's what this girl would be called now. A girl of happiness. A girl of pride. A girl of love. Tenten.

"Okay! It's my move! Don't forget, Baba, you owe me another dollar-coin if I win!" She dramatically moved her chess piece, raising the rook high into the air above her head and placing it vertically to his king. "Check!"

Sakura scootched over on her knees. She peered curiously over the game. "How do you play?"

Tenten explained carefully and slowly. "Well, you want to trap the king so he can't go anywhere. And you can take pieces too." Looking at Sakura's head-tilted-to-one-side look, she added on, "Like eating them. The pieces can eat each other."

"Then what happens?" She piped.

"Then they die." Tenten made her final move and raised her good arm in the air, "Checkmate!" She cheered and then looked over to Sakura. "Want to try?"

Sakura shook her head solemnly. "No. Killing is mean." The expression on her face was innocently serious.

Tenten looked over to Sasuke and made a look on her face. He could read her thoughts just from that one look: _amazing, she's not kidding, is she?_

Her father only smiled and continued to talk to Sasuke. "Yokata...I have my daughter back."

And as if the whole change was something of a dream to him- too relieving to be true- he needed to repeat his last sentence to reassure himself, make it real.

"I have my daughter back."

Sasuke heard the silent _thank you _in his voice. He never replied with a "you're welcome". After all, he didn't do anything. He didn't do it for him, for her, for anyone. It just happened. Right?

He looked at the clock and stood up. It was time to leave. No, it wasn't because he felt uncomfortable, because he didn't. Tenten's father's words just caused a sea of thoughts to storm in his mind...but he wasn't confused. He wasn't.

It was 7:00, they had 10 minutes to get to school. Sakura peered up at the wall bounced up. Her skirt fluttered behind her as she started to make her way to the door and twirled around to look back at Tenten and her father. "Are you coming with us, Tenten?"

Tenten turned down her invitation and shook her head. "Nah," She looked at her father and gave him a smile, "I still want some time off."

Sasuke nodded and gave his silent farewell as Sakura placed her vase her flowers on the table by the door and rushed out. "Okay! Bye Tenten-chan!" And she ran off to join Sasuke.

Tenten and her father admired the flowers with only a single glance and continued to spend their time with each other. They found no card hidden in the petals, just more buds and blossoms.

Yet if they knew what flowers meant, they would found a message. If they could hear flowers speak, the way Sakura could, then they would've heard their whispering song.

Yellow rose buds. Welcome back.

Pink rose. Perfect the way one is.

Goldenrod. Eternal pride.

Water lily. True self.

_Welcome back...you're perfect the way you are...you will always be loved, and you'll always be someone to be proud of, Tenten...just be..._

_yourself._

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Sakura skipped down the sidewalk side by side with Sasuke, who was too deep in thought to have commented or noticed her cheery mood. She hummed, since it was too quiet, and she didn't like silence. It was scary to her in a way. Things were much happier when there was some kind of noise.

Flowers budded, lacing the side of the cement with dots of wine-purple and buttery-yellow. Spring was beginning to bloom. And so, for school, it was time to switch to spring uniforms. Sakura hopped onto the ledge of a stonewall, covered with creeping green vines of yellow-to-pink roses. She held her arms out to the side and tried to keep her balance.

Her black blouse was hidden under a light brown, cropped, short-sleeved shirt that cinched at the sleeves, neckline, and bottom. The scooped neckline of the shirt allowed the black ribbon from the blouse to blow in the breeze, along with the brown laces that ran down the middle. The pleated skirt was of forest green jean-material with buttons down at one side. She still wore socks that were matching brown with black lacing up to a ribbon at the top.

Sasuke's short-sleeved, white dress shirt blew in the breeze. He ignored it, as well absentmindedly avoiding muddy areas to keep the dirt away from the bottom of his dark-brown, uniform pants. He looked straight ahead, but his dark eyes didn't completely pay attention to what was ahead of him.

They were too muddled with steely gray and onyx black to be able to think about what he should've been able to see.

Tenten. Tenten wasn't Tenten anymore. Not the Tenten he pictured in his mind. That was the thing about the mind; once it grows used to hearing, seeing, feeling...it won't accept anything else by the same name, even if it changes. So this girl, he couldn't accept her as Tenten.

Because Tenten was the girl that was like him. She was the one who lost friends and gave up being someone she could have been, someone like the rest of them- normal. She was the one who tried hard to make her father proud, searched for happiness in that one prospect of honor, pride. In reality, Tenten was someone who didn't have anyone. Only a person she wanted to have. That was her father.

Sasuke had wanted his father once too. He wanted his pride. He was never really happy, never truly proud. He couldn't be proud of himself. He needed his father. He needed someone else's pride.

But now, Tenten was...normal. Tenten was happy. Tenten had someone.

Sasuke, Sasuke still had nothing.

But he didn't want anything. He didn't.

She had escaped what he hadn't. And he...he felt somewhat at peace. That hurricane inside him, the one that churned memories with unknown emotions that still riveted somewhere inside, had stilled. He had felt something for her...as if almost he was the one who was normal again.

Seeing her with her father. Seeing her and her father with that bond invisibly tying them gave him a pulling feeling, as if something in him wanted to reach for something. Something...

He also had that blanketing feeling. That feeling where, where as if before, there was a fire inside him burning, aching...and that feeling spilled water over that flame. Calming...No more fire. He was free. He didn't have to be perfect. Perfect would lead him to becoming nothing.

And he was something.

"Uchiha-kun?"

Flashback

_"Uchiha-kun?" Innocence lilted in her voice. She tilted her head, curious, wondering. She didn't see the anger in the eyes she stared up into._

_"Uchiha-kun. That's the name you are to call him by." A stern, serious voice weighted upon her. Trying to bring her down, crush her with his disapproval. _

_She didn't cower, she didn't know. She only carefully chose her words. She could sense that he didn't like her. And she wanted everyone to like her. "But...Sa-Uchiha...kun said I could call him Sasu-chan..."_

_"No." His eyes were dark. She stared into them; there was no end to them. Staring, staring into eternal darkness and shadows. It was scary. _

_He shut the door on her flower-petal-green eyes, her chaste face. Behind it all, behind the unnerving shadow was Sasuke. He watched it all. He wanted to speak. But he couldn't. He couldn't. Otherwise, his father would yell. When he yelled, that meant that he was mad. And he didn't want his father to be angry at him, or hate him. He wanted him to like him. _

_He had to follow everything he did. Everything he said._

_His father turned, the big shadow, the scary shadow, overcastted him. He braced himself. Waiting._

_But this time, he didn't hit him. But this time, his punishment was even worse: words._

_"Sasu-chan, hm? Is that what you let everyone call you? Look at me." He demanded, his deep, mutely furious tone was like strings, playing Sasuke like a puppet. Those strings pulled Sasuke's head upwards, making him like into his face. Frightening face of shame towards his son. _

_"Do you know who you are? You are an Uchiha! You do not, ever, let people call you those names! Just look at Itachi! Do you ever see him playing with little girls? Never!"_

_His words carved. They were steel rods, heated red with unbearable fire. They scorched his heart, leaving only black. _

_"Know your place, Sasuke. You are not a normal boy. You are an Uchiha."_

_"Friends are never part of an Uchiha's life."_

End of Flashback.

"Uchiha-kun?"

He looked where the voice came from. Sakura. She looked at him with a chaste face. And he made his choice.

He laughed inside, only faintly. Nothing was humorous, he was only laughing from the irony of it all. The nostalgia.

_Sorry, Oto-san, looks like I'm gonna be breaking your rules for a while. _

And so he answered her.

"Yeah, Haruno?"

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"Okay, okay, quiet down." Kakashi entered the room in his regular stroll, the one that made him look as if he had all the time in the world- even if in reality, he was late. But his cool demeanor still silenced students as they scrambled to their seats. They all knew what Kakashi was capable of.

"Come to think of it, has any one of us actually _had_ one of Kakashi-sensei's detentions?" One boy whispered.

"Well, if you are oh-so-eager to become my after school entertainment, you'll answer your own question." Kakashi replied in a light, yet somewhat creepy tone. "Detention, Shibuki."

Some of the students snickered while the boy sulked in his own anger at his stupidity. They all fell back into silence when Kakashi casually replied. "I'll assume that anyone who talks again would like to keep Shibuki-kun company." That was the thing about Kakashi: he never joked.

Once Kakashi was satisfied with the attention level, he made his announcement. "This semester, we have a new student in our homeroom." He looked towards the sliding door and called out. "It's all clear."

The student walked in. Wearing a white, short-sleeved dress shirt and brown pants, the sound of the black shoes on the ground was silent.

He faced the class. And just by the way, the moment he walked into the classroom, Sasuke knew: he was different. And as Sasuke looked around, he could tell the class shared his same thoughts as they noticed his sand-red hair, solid green eyes lined with dark black, and especially his softly dangerous, stone set expression.

"Would you like to introduce yourself, or would you rather me do the honors?" Kakashi showed nothing on his face that could give away whether or not he was just as stunned as his students.

"Gaara."

"Last name?"

His deep, rusty voice replied with almost what Sasuke could sense was a tone of death- murder- in it. "I don't have one."

Kakashi didn't question it. He pointed to his seat by the window, right ahead of Sasuke, and Gaara walked to it. Sasuke noticed how silently he could move, without disrupting a single swift of air behind him. It was like floating over the ground, being made out of nothing. Just like the walk of an assassin

Throughout the rest of Physics, Sasuke was nearly like everyone else in the class: not paying attention to Kakashi. They were too busy having their eyes on Gaara, as if staring at him more would answer the many questions in their minds. Gaara didn't seem to have noticed, he continued watching Kakashi with his menace-green eyes.

Sasuke tried not to pay attention to Gaara, but it was difficult for even him. For one, Gaara was sitting right ahead of him, so he was constantly in his sight. But it was mostly his aura...it was...almost intimidating. Uncaring, cold...He should've been used to it, because after all, that's what he should be like. But it bothered him. There was something death-defying about him.

The bell rang and most of the students rushed out of the classroom more eager than usual to escape. It was self-explanitory since it _was _Kakashi's class, but that wasn't it. It was the new student. They had all sensed the iciness in Gaara. Some of them seem to have had more curiosity than fear, and stalled for a while to observe the new student even more as he took his time reorganizing his possessions.

Actually, Sasuke saw something different in some of the students that walked by Gaara. It wasn't fright, nor was it amazement. There was some sort of heat in those people, a dull one that rose with each glance that turned into stares. Anger?

But he was a new kid? What was there to be mad at?

Sasuke walked off at his normal speed. Because, he told himself, everything was still normal. They only had a new student in their class, and he meant nothing.

He was outside by the door, waiting for Sakura to get her lunch (most likely a meal of dessert) so that they could meet up with the others by the tree. But he had noticed while walking down the stairs that no one was there. Not even Shikamaru, who once and a while would ditch class to sleep there.

And then he heard it. A scream.

It could've been any other girl, screaming in joy with her other shallow friends about another new brand of eye shadow. But Sasuke heard it: this was different. This was panic. And when he walked over to the commotion from where he heard the noise coming from, he saw Sakura's hands covering her mouth, trying to hold back a gasp of dread. She, like many of the other students his age, was crowded around a gang of boys.

They all stood facing Gaara, who stood alone.

"So, you've finally decided to join humans, huh?" One of them sneered.

The other grabbed Gaara by the collar and slammed him into the lockers. Blood trickled down his forehead, yet Sasuke didn't see any movement from him that cued that he was planning to fight back. But the coldness still seeped out of him, letting everyone sense his dulled hatred, his ability to kill. Yet, he could hold it back. For Sasuke could tell, behind the dark chill, there was much more.

But the gang of boys were too oblivious, either that, or they were to blind in their revenge to stop as they knocked him around.

Sasuke could see the spiky blonde hair among them. And a voice shouted out, "Leave him alone!"

Sasuke could tell that voice from anywhere: Naruto.

Naruto couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't watch Gaara let them hurt him. Let them shame him lower and lower. Naruto clenched his teeth. "He's not any different than us! You don't know what it's like to be him!"

Naruto put up a fight, but they were too strong for him. The knocked him aside. One of them looked at Gaara with disgust. "So now you're brainwashing your food now too, huh?"

"Face it! You have no friends!"

He didn't deny anything. He let the words of blades drive through him.

Naruto shouted out, he stood back up, his knees shaking with pain. But he stood anyway. He needed to be heard. He knew what it was like to be different. Every word, every needle of hatred, he could feel. He made up for whatever Gaara couldn't, or refused, to feel. "Wrong. He's my friend!"

Sasuke watched with gray eyes, as they kicked Naruto lower to the ground. Until he couldn't possibly sink lower. He didn't help. He wasn't supposed to have any friends. Yet he wanted it to stop.

"Poor kid." One kid stomped on Naruto's back, causing him to spit blood. "Doesn't know what he's gotten himself into."

"Is that what you do?" He snarled at Gaara, launching his anger back towards him. "Play with your food?"

He advanced closer and closer. And Gaara remained unfazed. He met him on eye to eye. Except his eyes took in the blazing hatred in the boy's eyes. Like a vacuum that had nothing else to suck in but whatever was given to them. Pain.

"Is killing one a day not enough?" A punch in the stomach.

"You can't control yourself, can you?" Another in the face.

"You can't fool us, kaiju, we know who you are." He crashed into the locker again, falling to the ground. He didn't bother to get up. He didn't want to fight.

"You can believe all you want. But know this: You're not human!" He brought his foot down, planning to crush his skull.

Yet instead, the boy was sent flying into a trashcan, and another who was about to try to hit Gaara again had a sickening snap come from his arm.

All were quiet. Shocked by the sudden blurred entrance.

The entrance of a girl. A girl firmly holding the boy's wrist, bending it without care that his bone was splintering under her grip. A girl with dirt-blonde hair, tied into four spiked ponytails. A girl with cruelly emotionless eyes, protective.

The boy's eyes grew wide as he felt the pain cracking through his bone. The jolt rising to his whole body. "Stop! Please!"

She ignored all the whispers and the stares. Her green eyes, threatening to fragment him apart without sympathy, bored into his, stilling his blood into frozen fear. Letting him sink into his own shadows. Pain. Letting him hurt.

Her voice was chilled, heartless. Heartless enough to watch his terrors overtake him. Eat him into nothing like parasites, parasites of venom and darkness.

"Try that again."

"And I won't be hesitant let you suffer."

* * *

A/N: Almost the holidays...I love Christmas...Surprisingly enough, I forgot the date of the start of my vacation. I actually leave this Sunday. Teehee. Um, I'll be back by Christmas, which I think is a Thursday...but I might not upload Friday cuz I'll be pooped.

I'm pretty sure you all can guess who this "girl" is, and I'm hoping that you can also take the hint from my section from the flowers is that Sakura isn't as clueless as she seems...

Voacb:

Yokata: I'm glad

Oto-san- Father (more formal)

Kaiju- monster

Characters:

Shibuki- Just a random filler character. He's actually a real character from the second OVA of Naruto.

Gaara- New student to the school that everyone has seemed to notice has some sort of a dangerous feeling about him...

Itachi- Sasuke's older brother once known as the Uchiha protégé. He and the rest of Sasuke's family were killed.

Happy Holidays in Advance! P.S. It's snowing real hard here!!!


	14. Silent, Cruel

**Chapter 14: Silent, Cruel**

"Try that again."

"And I won't hesitate to let you suffer."

Silence protective overcame crowd. The frigidness that seeped ice from her pale lips, as she spoke words that sunk into the flesh, like frostbite. Something numbing yet frightening, in a way that you fear for what could potentially happen- that you would not lose a finger or a toe, but something more.

This was a girl you didn't want to mess with.

"Who is she?" Some murmured, as if she would hear and break them apart as well, just like the boy in front of her.

Sasuke was asking the same question.

She stood still, with her back straight. Her unreadable eyes revealed nothing, and she continued to hold her grip on his wrist, like a toothpick. The air around her, the one that hung over the crowd like a heavy cloud, was stiff. Wind breezed by, and she still stood, un-intimidated. As if nothing else was there but her and her muted anger.

"Temari." Someone else whispered.

"It's the siblings."

"Here? In the school?"

There was confusion. So many feelings. So many feelings that it overwhelmed Sasuke's mind. He could sense many things. Searing red growing in the heart; hate. Throbbing pain that ached to lash out; vengeance. Numbing buzz that stills into stone; feat.

All of them made Sasuke want to know more: _Who are they?_

"You!" One of the boys on the ground spat, glaring at her with eyes that wanted to strangle her. "Witch!"

She brought her attention slowly to him, with her green eyes sliding over to him, uncaring as she watched him cough up blood. She let go of the boy's wrist, turning her back to him as he crumpled to the ground cradling his arm. She stared down at the boy.

"Your acceptance is insignificant. Whether you forgive or avenge is your choice. Just know this. We're not as different from you as you think you are."

He scowled. Another boy launched from behind her, trying to catch her by surprise. But she was quick, spinning around to block his punch from her face. His haggled breath into her face as she stared into him, unafraid. Protective.

"But know this more." She threw him aside. "If you ever. _Ever _touch my brother, you won't be forgiven."

That was it, they couldn't take it. They started back up fighting again. Five on one. It was supposed to be unfair, yet it wasn't. She could hold her place. She allowed one of them to get close to hurting her, but she stopped him a centimeter from eyelevel.

Maybe nobody else watching heard, but Sasuke heard her whisper.

"If you stop your anger, I won't have to fight you. Please."

But they ignored her.

Flashback.

_Looking up into the sky. It seemed so close. So close with someone underneath him, raising him closer. Sasuke tried raising his arm, maybe he could feel the night-blue on his fingertips. But instead, he brushed the leaves on a tree above._

_Sasuke looked down onto his older brother's head. Sitting on his shoulders, sitting there made him feel higher. Higher than anyone else. Sasuke grinned. "I can almost touch the sky! Onii-chan!"_

_His brother looked up and smiled. Sasuke loved that smile. It made him feel safe, with his warming black eyes and long hair tied to a ponytail. His brother was so lucky. He was perfect. "Aren't you ever scared, Sasuke?"_

_Sasuke shook his head. "Of course not!" He was on his shoulder, but his brother held his feet. He would never let go. He knew that. "You'll save me if I fall!"_

_They walked down the town, it was midnight. They always had moonlight walks. But today, there was a shadow lurking. Sasuke didn't see it, but his brother did. As Sasuke closed his eyes and let the happiness lull him to a near sleep, his brother lowered him off his shoulders. _

_He spoke in a low, serious voice. "Sasuke. I want you to hurry home now."_

_Sasuke woke up. This voice wasn't his nice onii-chan's. This voice was serious. He didn't know what was going on. He wanted to know. _

_"Why?" He wanted to be with his brother. Without his shoulders underneath him, without his hand, there was nothing to make him feel sky-high. _

_"Just go!" He whispered furiously._

_"But-_

_"Well, well, Itachi...have you made your choice?" A shadow spoke. It wasn't friendly. Sasuke hid behind his brother. Onii-chan could save him. Onii-chan would never let go of him._

_Sasuke didn't understand. He wanted to. What was going on? He tugged on his brother's shirt. "What? What?"_

_"It's nothing, Sasuke." He spoke in a steely voice. But Sasuke knew. He knew that it wasn't nothing. There was something. Why did his brother seem scared? Why did he seem so scary now? It was almost like his oto-san. And he didn't like it._

_"Why not Itachi? Why not let your brother in on the secret?" The shadow-man spoke, and more shadows came. There looked like there was a lot. Sasuke didn't like that. His laugh wasn't nice. It was mean. Scary. "Are you scared that he'd hate you?"_

_Sasuke felt his brother turn into stone. It was cold and still. Like a rock. _

_"Why should it matter Uchiha? You're going to hell anyway."_

_What did he mean? Where was his brother going? He couldn't go anywhere. Sasuke wanted him here. With him. He held Itachi tighter. _

_"Sasuke, it's fine. Go. Home."_

_No. No, it wasn't okay. His brother couldn't go anywhere. He wasn't going anywhere._

_"You know you have no choice Itachi. You know what you're going to choose. Time's running out. And so is that little brother of yours." The laugh was mean. As if the dark-man was planning to do something mean._

_"No, just, just give me another choice. Please." Sasuke didn't like this. His brother was supposed to be strong. Why was he saying "please"?_

_"Why don't we put you out of your misery now? Why not just do part of the job for you?" _

_Sasuke felt shadow arms reach towards him. They had knives. They were going to hurt him. He knew. Scared. He was scared. _

_His brother pushed him away, and red spilled. There was red shining in the moon, on his brother. It didn't look pretty. It was scary. His brother was hurting. _

_"Run Sasuke!"_

_He couldn't move. Too scared. His legs were too scared to move. He could only watch. Watch as the hurt him more. There was more red. Red everywhere. His brother wasn't fighting. Why? Why? _

_Why wouldn't he fight?_

End of Flashback.

He struck out.

The boy planning on trying again to kick her on the back was blocked.

By Sasuke.

Sasuke grabbed his ankle, twisted it, and threw him to the ground without a word. He didn't know why. He had just moved without thinking.

She didn't acknowledge him. She didn't have a chance to before the teachers noticed and began to regain control of the situation.

"Okay! Okay! Break it up now!" A woman's voice resounded. Some of the students figured out whose voice it belonged to and scrambled away, hoping not to get caught.

"I think it's time to put an end to this, don't you?" Kakashi said lightly as he appeared behind Sasuke with Naruto slung over his left shoulder and holding Sasuke's shoulder firmly.

Another teacher came to stop the chaos as well. This teacher was a new one. Sasuke could tell that by the odd appearance of having bandages wrapped around his head. He lifted Gaara up and stood in front of Temari. Both the sibling's eyes gave away nothing. No guilt at all. Nor were they denying the punishment that could be read from the teacher's harsh eyes. They were alike: they faced forward, yet their green eyes weren't really looking anywhere.

"Well, well, well. How are we all today? I supposed we all wanted to welcome the new kid with a little game here, hm?"

As the five boys stood up and tried to make a break for it, another teacher stopped them. She appeared with her arms slung around all fives' shoulders, as if they were all best friends. But the smile on her face was cynical as well as her voice, and her dark eyes seemed to hide some sort of maliciousness, bringing out the purple in her hair that was spiked into an up-do.

"I hope we've all played nice now, hm?" She pulled them even closer with a tight, fake smile; she already knew the answer to her question, and letting them get away was definitely not on her to-do-list.

All of them could tell from her sardonic tone that they were in huge trouble. One of them gulped. "Mitarashi-sensei!" He squeaked.

Sasuke made no move to show restraint. He hadn't wanted to fight in the first place. He'd just suddenly found himself wanting for them to pay for something. As if they took something from him, and hurting them would make him feel better. He had saw them unfairly kick the new student around. And then Naruto seemed so bold to defend the guy even if he was a stranger, only to be hurt. And then there was the girl, she didn't hadn't wanted to fight...

Flashback.

_Red eyes met shadows. They had tried to kill him, but he wasn't ready to die yet. No, his onii-chan had to live for him. But why wasn't he fighting?_

_Sasuke stood at the side of the blood-lust. He heard his onii-chan's whisper. How sad it seemed! Where was his super hero onii-chan? Where did he go?_

_"Please, not in front of Sasuke. I don't want to fight."_

End of Flashback.

And then he moved. Next thing he knew, he had thrown the other student into the wall.

They were taken to the principal's office. (Sasuke wondered how pissed Tsunade would be this time). Kakashi lightly knocked on the door twice before entering without permission. Unlike Asuma from before, Kakashi wasn't as frightened of the eccentric principal.

The chair that was turned away swiveled around to meet the visitors. Tsunade sat on the chair with bored hazel eyes with strands of loosely tied back blonde hair covering her face. She leaned over her desk and propped a hand under her cheek while uninterestedly observing a pen in her other hand, preparing herself for a long bore. She didn't even bother to look at Kakashi as she asked, "What now, Kakashi?"

"Well," Kakashi started in his ever-so-carefree tone. Tsunade still didn't draw her attention away from twirling a pen with her fingers as all nine students were presented- seven of them bloodied, and two (Sasuke and Temari) clean. Kakashi continued, "Some of our students here decided to give Gaara-kun a little welcome."

Anko, who still had a tight hold over all five friends that started the fight with her arms outstretched over their shoulders, sarcastically finished. "Yes. But out little welcome party was a bit rowdy now, wasn't it?" He smile was like a threat that read that any person who did not agree would have their heads sliced off (or worse).

Her prisoners simultaneously replied in a high voice, "Yes." Sasuke could see the sweat forming on their foreheads.

Tsunade ignored them and gave a lazy point of her pen behind them. Sasuke noticed another boy, with dark eyes and blonde hair, sitting in a waiting chair by the door. He looked stubborn; refusing to look at any of them as he had his arms folded across his chest and stared at the ground in muted anger. Sasuke could tell that he was most likely about a year older than himself, a junior- and a new one too.

"Baki, I'll leave him and the other two for you."

The new teacher politely bowed and lead the three new students out the office and into the quieted hallways; classes had started back up again.

Sasuke obediently continued to face in the principal's direction, but watched the four shadows out the window of the door from the corner of his eyes. He overheard their conversation.

"The first day, and you three are already causing trouble." It wasn't a voice that seemed like it could shout, but it was frustrated, furious. "Did you not even bother to listen to just one word from me about not attracting attention? Do you know how much time I wasted trying to find you three a place? This is the only school that agreed to accept you three. And with your father and Gaar- circumstances, you're lucky you even were accepted. This is your only chance to have a normal life. Do you want it or not." He waited. "Well?"

One of the shadows grumbled. "They started it-

"I don't care. All the students here know you're different Gaara. Most of this town already knows about you. And they don't like it. Give them one chance, and they'll be happy to kill you, along with Temari and Kankuro. So be more careful. Am I understood?"

The other three shadows were like stone, deadly quiet. Sasuke drew his attention back onto Tsunade. She tapped on her desk. "Well? The punishment?"

Anko was quick to answer. "Since my little buddies over here were the ones who threw the party, I'll be the one to throw them a little party." She gave an wicked smile, "It'll be fun." All of them knew that out of all the teachers in Konezuku, Ank Mitarashi was the one with the worst punishments.

Tsunade showed no sympathy towards the whimpering boys as she sent them off, "Fine then, all five of you, two months of after school detention with Mitarashi."

Now, it was just Sasuke and Naruto. Tsunade looked up from her filing report to look at Kakashi. "Your turn." She looked at him expectantly.

Kakashi answered. "Well...Naruto-kun was technically trying to defend Gaara-kun...but that really doesn't give him an excuse to resort to violence." Then he looked at Sasuke. "And Sasuke-kun here only hopped in last minute...I'm their homeroom teacher, so I'll be in charge of their punishment."

Tsunade scribbled down more notes on her paper, making the detention official. "Very well the. Uchiha Sasuke. One week of detention with Hatake. Uzumaki Naruto. One month of detention with Hatake."

Kakashi threw Naruto off his shoulder when he realized Naruto had regained consciousness. Naruto jumped up and yelled. "What?!! One month?!! Why do I have more!?"

An evil glint shone in Tsunade's eyes as she sarcastically answered. "You seem to have forgotten the little joke you pulled this morning," She beckoned her assistant principal, Shizune, over. Shizune held a small piglet in her arms that was once a healthy pink color, but now splotched with messy paint. "when you thought it would be funny to pain my pet, Tonton, yellow polkadots." She finished, glaring at him.

As if he had completely forgotten about the fight before and his injuries, Naruto laughed hysterically. He stopped to duck from the vase Tsunade threw at him. She puffed in anger, "DAMMIT UZUMAKI!"

Kakashi took that as a cue that it was time to go. He led the two out the door so that Tsunade wouldn't break anything else in the room.

Sasuke followed behind Kakashi and Naruto in silence. The moment he walked out, he looked to his right, feeling something cold and ominous chilling from there. He saw them: the three new students standing silently together. Their eyes met his. They were all the same, silent, lurking, unafraid of pain- just like shadows creeping on walls. Eyes of killers.

That moment, Sasuke knew:

They were not like any other students.

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That afternoon at the end of school, when the clock read 4:50, Sasuke was used to heading back to his apartment to work on his homework. Usually after that, he would head to the main downtown to get to the research center, which was where he worked part-time. But instead, Sasuke was to stay at homeroom; keeping Naruto company.

Sasuke ignored Naruto, who was attempting to set a chalkboard eraser jammed between the sliding door and the frame. (A/N: Yes, remember the prank he tried pulling the first time they were supposed to meet Kakashi?) Sasuke stared boredly out the window, looking down into the courtyard where students were starting to depart. Lucky them. He should've been one of them. Instead, he was stuck in an after school with an idiot (that would be Naruto).

Out of all people. And he was an Uchiha.

Flashback.

_Books flew from the table. He was just looking at lines of words before. Confusing words. But now they were gone. On the ground. His pencil clattered to the ground with the crumpled papers. But that wasn't what he heard. He heard someone angry. He heard his oto-san._

_Sasuke shut his eyes. But that didn't help, he could still sense how mad his oto-san was. It scared him, it made him sad. He wished he couldn't hear either. _

_"You are no longer to call yourself by this name. You have not done anything to deserve this title." Sasuke opened an eye, daring to look at the ground. But not at his oto-san. No. Looking at his oto-san would make everything worse. Even so, maybe it would've been so bad. Better than what he could see now. _

_He saw his certificate, his "special star" certificate. The one he got from his teacher for being good. For being "perfect". His mother had framed it when he showed it to her. His name in big letters, shining behind glass. So that she could "show everyone how good Sasuke was". _

_Now, that certificate was under his oto-san's foot. Crushing the glass into pieces. Hiding his part of the name: "Uchiha."_

_Sasuke wanted to grab it from him. He wanted to save it and tell himself that it was okay. He was still a good boy._

_"This certificate is meaningless. Certificates are for ones who should be honored for excellence. But you," He pointed at all the scribbles on the sheets of math. "You can not learn your algebra in two hours of time."_

_It hurt. It hurt a lot inside. He wanted him to stop. Stop talking like that._

_"But Itachi had learned it in less than two hours when he was your age."_

_Sasuke knew that. He knew that his onii-chan was perfect, and Sasuke didn't hate him for it. Sasuke loved him for it. But he didn't want to be like him...like a copy. He wanted to be...himself. His own way of perfect._

_"But I'm not onii-chan!" He spoke out._

_"No, you are not. And that is the problem."_

_"You are a disgrace."_

_"Itachi is our only hope."_

End of Flashback.

_Itachi..._ Sasuke laughed inside with anger, _the hope of the Uchiha..._He clenched his fist over the desk top. _And yet it's because of him that our clan is in this state. It's because of him that I'm here. _

Sasuke didn't kill his family. Sasuke didn't betray. Sasuke didn't leave his brother alone. Yet Itachi was the perfect one. Still the perfect one. So what was he?

_It's not his fault..._

A little boy whispered inside him.

_It's __**their **__fault..._

The door slid open and both he and Naruto turned in the direction of the doorway. Naruto prepared himself for the success of yet another one of his pranks, he bit his lip, ready to laugh at Kakashi...

The chalkboard eraser fell from the top, and was caught was the catch of a swift arm. There was no white powder to dust up the room. Everything was still clean. And the eraser suspended over not spiky white hair, but a set of four blonde ponytails.

It was her. The new girl.

She looked at her white-dusted fingers from the eraser, observing it with dead green eyes. Then she tossed it to Naruto with a quick throw, as if the strength of it was nothing to her. Naruto was speechless.

"I believe this belongs to you."

She took a seat on the other side of the room, opposite of Sasuke. Kakashi entered the room a minute later, safe from Naruto's prank without a clue what was supposed to have been in store for him.

Kakashi gave an easy-going smile, "Temari-chan's going to be joining you two with your detention." He smiled toward her. "Would you mind introducing yourself? You'll be stuck with these two for a week anyway. Not that there's anything wrong with that. After all, the more the merrier."

Naruto obviously didn't find anything merry about spending two hours with Kakashi, even if it did include company this time (it usually was just him). He grumbled something that Sasuke suspected was insulting.

"Temari." She said in a lifeless tone. Uninterested in the other two.

Kakashi continued on with her short response. "Temari-chan's in her senior year." He looked out the window. "It seems nice enough outside." He walked over to the windows and looked down, musing. "It seems as if the grass needs to be cut..."

He then walked to the door. "Come on. We're going outside."

The three students followed him out the building, not exactly sure whether or not to be grateful. Kakashi could've been deciding to be unexpectedly merciful...or he had just thought up of an even crueler and more unusual punishment. After all, he was unpredictable.

But Kakashi was right. It was a nice day. The wind blew softly over the long grass, which was actually pretty unkempt.

"Well? What are you all waiting for?" He ruined the peaceful silence, as well as relief as he held up three scissors. "I didn't bring you all out here for nothing." He smiled without a care that Naruto was scowling at him, trying to refrain from doing something very, very violent to him.

Sasuke still didn't understand what Kakashi meant until Naruto unwillingly snatched a pair of scissors from him and bent down over the grass, slowly beginning to snip away at every tiny blade of grass. _He can't be serious..._ But when he looked back at Kakashi and saw Temari following Naruto's lead, he saw that he wasn't.

"Come on Sasuke." Kakashi held out the pair of scissors. Sasuke was tempted to turn his back and walk away, but the glint in Kakashi's eye told him that it wasn't a good idea.

_This is so retarded. I shouldn't be here with idiots. _He repeated in his mind the whole time as he spent the next to hours kneeling on the ground while literally "cutting" grass. Now he understood why nobody in homeroom wanted detention with Kakashi. This was worse than sitting in a room doing nothing.

He snipped the last piece of grass and looked over to see Kakashi enjoying his time in leisure under a tree. He was reading a book, and it didn't seem like it was a very educational book from Sasuke's point of view. The sun was setting and the sky was growing purple.

"Yo! Kakashi-sensei! I'm done." Naruto yelled out impatiently, eager to get away from school. Sasuke observed his side of the work. Naruto's grass was much more ragged and messy than his.

Kakashi reappeared by Naruto, still with his eyes on his book, he critiqued. "No you're not. Does this look finished to you?" Then he looked over at Sasuke's and Temari's areas. "You two, on the other hand, are finished. You two may leave."

Naruto whined. "What?!"

Kakashi said in a bored tone. "Well, if I were to hire someone to cut my grass, would I be happy if they left it the way you did?"

Naruto yelled. "People don't cut grass with scissors in the first place!"

Kakashi stroked his chin, still with his attention on his book (which was ticking Naruto off even more). "Why yes. That's true..." He made it seem like as if he was deep in thought for a few minutes, letting Naruto hope that he would let him off. But instead, he only smiled, "Oh well. Carry on."

After ten minutes of a heated ranting and cursing, Naruto was actually quick to finish his work in Kakashi's approval. Naruto dashed off once he was finished, more than happy to be free. Sasuke picked up some missed work during class after missing a period from being kept at the principal's office. He walked down the dark hallways back to Kakashi's room to get his stuff. Temari had left as well.

Kakashi was in the room, just about to leave. Sasuke walked past him without a greeting and started to pack up. As he was looking down and straightening his papers, Kakashi stood by the door.

"It's unusual for an Uchiha, to get in as much trouble as you did today."

Sasuke didn't answer the comment.

Kakashi said quietly. "You could've walked away. Saved yourself from the trouble."

Sasuke found himself replying.

"Sometimes you can't leave things that bother you the way they are."

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"City areas in Konoha are becoming outlandishly dangerous as the deaths of more civilians shoot up in numbers each day. Since the beginning of the pattern two days ago, police have still not found the murderer, nor have they found any of the victims' bodies. However, there appears to be a relationship between victims. The killer's victims are seen to all be previous or current trouble makers in the town such as robbers and violent gang members." The woman on the screen spoke with articulacy as she reported the nightly news. "Police officers are strongly urging citizens to set a curfew and discourage walking alone during nighttime-

She disappeared as the screen flashed black. Now, only the clock spoke as it ticked from over the television. 10:01. 10:02...

Sasuke found himself connecting the news report to the three new students in Konezuku. They most likely had moved here the exact same day the killing started. He caught himself and shook his head. The police always tried to make up stories and solve the case to make themselves look good.

He looked at the clock and suddenly thought of Sakura. A dull panic rose inside him. _Don't tell me...did she go tonight?_ He knew that Sakura would always wait for him at the cherry blossom tree. Was she planning on it tonight? Probably. They had been meeting each other there every night now.

It wasn't really intended at first. But like everything else, it sort of fell into a routine. She would always be there to look down and wave at him, and he would join her. They would talk.

Talk about anything. Usually it was about their days, and everything about it. By everything, it included feelings. And from there, it'd go deeper.

Sasuke kind of liked it. He trusted her. To him, she seemed like someone who looked at him and wanted to care about him. She listened and never lied about anything. She was his safety.

Yet he always reminded himself. She was just a key. Someone that he'd need for later, for the moment when he'll be able to avenge. But every time he thought that, he'd get another thought too: then, he didn't want that moment of vengeance to come. If it did, it would mean abandoning Sakura.

He found his way to the same tree. And like always, she was there waiting. Waiting to listen. She swung her legs in the air, "Hiyas!" She smiled. It was almost like coming home when he was younger.

He climbed up and sat next to her. He waited for her to start the conversation. That's what she always did, since he could never find the right words.

"Uchiha-kun was very brave today, standing up for Gaara-san." She spoke up softly; her voice wasn't chirpy like the usual.

Sasuke looked over. "Were you scared?" He had seen the look on her face, and he could still remember it, like all the other different smiles and pouts she made. But that time, her eyes were wide ringed with a frozen-green.

Sakura shook her head. "No. But," She had a distant smile on. It was the kind of smile that looked like she was crying for somebody, yet smiling for the sake of those that could possibly worry for her. "I was sad."

Sasuke understood. By now, he knew that Sakura was a girl who could stretch herself to the extent of being able to feel inside of other people, feel it as if it was her own happiness, pain. What could she see in Gaara that others couldn't? What could she feel behind the emptiness, pain, and killing-intent-glare?

"The new kid...he's different."

She nodded. "Yes, he is. But did you see that girl?" She looked distantly down, saifu trying to see further behind the ground. Everything had a deeper meaning. "I was sad for her the most."

Sasuke was confused. She was talking about Temari. Yet Temari wasn't the one who was picked on, beat up upon, shunned. Nobody seemed to hate her, hate her enough to have the burning desire to rid her from the earth. No, she was different from Gaara. "Why?"

"Because. How painful could it be, to watch someone you care about be hated? You would love them so much, that you want every one to love him the way you do. You want every one to understand. But nobody would listen. But wouldn't hurt more to know that you can't do anything to take away the pain for him?"

"That can fill with hatred. And then you could find it unbearable to love that person anymore."

"What if, the pain hurt so much...that you decide not to feel, so that you can keep on protecting him?"

Sasuke thought about it. It was all too much. How could a person watching someone hurt, hurt themselves? He pondered over it. He still didn't find an answer, and he found that he couldn't ask Sakura because he had been thinking for so long, that he'd lost track of time and she had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

He leapt for a second, suddenly aware of her heartbeat pulsing through her body, rhythming near his own pulse. He had a sudden jolt to push her away, to try to stop the heat from rushing up his face. But he looked at her peaceful face and he couldn't bring himself to wake her up. He tried recomposing himself, and sighed as he looked at her face. _She's going to get a cold. _He slipped off his jacket and wrapped it around her, hopping off the tree.

He took her home and laid her on her bed. Whatever dream she was having, it must have been too blissful to leave, as she only mumbled something when he started to walk out the door.

He ignored the warnings of the local police news and walked alone down the city streets. He was even bold enough to walk down the alleys for a shortcut. Unafraid, he ignored how the light from the city couldn't filter through the shadows the loomed over him. Graffiti was sprayed all over molding cement walls, screaming anger from city gangs.

But when he reached the middle of alley, where it was the blackest and most muffled- easiest place to kill without being caught-, he found a color that he knew wasn't graffiti.

Blood. There was blood, everywhere.

Sasuke thought he heard a gurgled scream, but he couldn't tell from the heaviness of the dark plugging his ears. But he knew he was right when he saw a boy slump to the ground, dead from choking in his own blood that was oozing out of his neck like snakes.

He looked around. There were more. More blood-snakes. More corpses.

Looking up, he saw her, standing in small sliver of moonlight-silver that broke through the black. Blood. Blood dyed her pale skin as if she had been born with only raw flesh. Blood dripped from her hair as if she had bathed in it. Blood stained the sharp dagger of steel in her hand, as if it was a creature thirsting for blood to drink.

It was her.

Temari.

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A/N: Yay, chapter fourteen is done! Wow, I just realized: I've already written two chapters for Temari, and this arc has only started! I guess this arc might be longer. Or just the same length as Tenten's

And I'd just like to remind everybody. This is SasuSaku IN THE END. Got that? Mainly, this is just Sasuke. I'm sorry if it's causing you any irritation. If you're looking for SasuSaku all the way, then this isn't for you. I'll change the labeling if you want. JUST TELL ME NICELY OKAY!?!?! Sheesh, people are so couple-thirsty.

And no, Sasuke is not going to have any other love relationships with any of the other girls. Nor has he had any so far. He's just RELATING them to his own feelings and past. There's a difference.

Okay. Just had to let that out. Now, onwards.

Thank you to all of you who understand this supposedly hard concept.

Characters:

Temari- Gaara's older, protective sister. Known as a cold-hearted senior, she's new to the school.

Kankuro- Gaara's older brother who is the more outspoken one of the group. He's a junior.

Mitarashi Anko- A teacher of Konezuku known for her sarcasm and scary punishments.

Tonton- Tsunade's pet pig.

Baki- A new teacher who seems to have connections with the three new students...

Vocab:

Nothing new.

Thanks to all who have read this far! Keep up with your reviews! They are all loved and treasured by me!


	15. Coldhearted, Confused

**Chapter 15: Cold-hearted, Confused**

She stood there, with the moon's silver pouring over her sickly pale skin. The green, it flashed like ferns surrounded in a steely mist. Red. There was red. Red trickling from her fingertips. Too much red. She stood sideways, looking up into the moon. Faraway, wistful. As if she was trying to drink in something in pain.

She turned her head.

Their eyes met.

Flashback.

_He wanted to run. Look away. Scream. But he couldn't. All the red...all the people lying on the ground..._

_His oka-san_

_His oto-san._

_Why?_

_Why?_

_Sasuke couldn't turn his head. It was scary, but Sasuke almost didn't want to look away. The feeling was unexplainable. He wanted to know. This was unfair. Why him? He wanted to cry. They're all gone. He was alone. They were right there in front of him...so..._

_Red._

_His onii-chan. Why was his onii-chan standing there? No. No. _

_It couldn't be._

_He was standing there, covered in blood. His eyes were bright red...wanting more...more...He held a knife, shining in the blaze of fire. It was so hot, so hot inside him. He was scared. Scared. This wasn't his onii-chan. _

_He loved his onii-chan. His onii-chan was nice. His onii-chan would never hurt him. But why was he hurting him now? Why would he do this to him? His onii-chan's eyes...they were scaring him...his eyes:_

_They were sad._

_But why? Why? Why would he do this? A monster. He looked like a monster in red. _

_He was scared._

End of Flashback.

He couldn't move. Something inside his chest was thrashing rapidly, trying to break from his ribcage. It was making him breath faster; yet barely breathe at all at the same time. He didn't see her disappear.

Her green eyes.

Flashback.

_Red eyes...a killer's eyes..._

End of Flashback.

"Don't move."

A flash of silver glinted from the bottom corner of his eye. Something cold threatened the flesh of his neck. It pressed only a bit against his skin, icy. He knew what it was.

He could see it, burring its frozen metal inside him. The blood would spill from him, as would himself. It would hurt, searing pain until he slipped into darkness, permanently cold.

That thing inside his chest beat even faster.

Flashback.

_Scared...he was scared..._

End of Flashback.

His memories...it was as if she sensed them. She was a shadow behind him, and he could sense how close she was to him. Her breath seemed worried, and he could feel the intent of ridding him from in her. But it faded. And he could see the green in her eyes fade with frustration.

She reappeared by all the dead bodies, drenched in blood that gleamed in the moon. She looked at Sasuke. He was still frozen. He could barely see anything but the green. Red. Green.

But then, just barely, he could've sword he saw her put a finger to her pale lips. And then, through the deafening thumping of his blood in his ears, he thought he heard.

"Don't tell."

And she disappeared with her kill.

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"Hey Uchiha! Missed me? I know, I know, I'm back. But I figured since you all love me so much, I'd come back to school just for you guys." Someone called out with a sarcastic voice. "I know, I make my sacrifices."

It was Tenten. She was on a bike, slowing down as she approached Sakura and Sasuke down the sidewalk to school. She waved; Rock Lee was right behind her riding his bike.

Sakura peered past Sasuke and smiled happily, "Welcome back Tenten-chan!"

She sighed, "Ah yes, the joys of school...I hate it." She grinned. "What? Am I supposed to say: 'I love it!'?" She slowed her pedaling and tried keeping at the same pace with the two. "So, are you two keeping out of trouble? Have you heard of that mad-killing going on?"

Before she could go any further on the topic, Rock Lee sped right past them, creating a huge gust of wind. "The beautiful beast challenges you, Yin Tenten, to a bike race!" He was already at the stoplight at the very top of the hill, and they were still at the middle.

Tenten called out, "Hey! No fair!" She looked back at them with laughing eyes. "He is so gonna lose. Meet ya guys there!" She raced off, trying to keep up.

By the time Sakura and Sasuke got to the school courtyard, Tenten and Rock Lee already had their bikes locked, tied with a chain. The two stood nearby their bikes, Tenten had her hands on her knees while Rock Lee was sprawled over the grass. Both were gasping for air while Neji shook his head at them.

"The...The beautiful beast...beast...wins!" Rock Lee attempted to announce between gulps of air.

"No...way...I won!" Tenten shot back.

The two argued as Sakura and Sasuke walked over. They still had a few minutes before class.

"Sasuke!" Naruto raised a hand in greeting as he walked over to join the group.

Sasuke made a mental note that Naruto was to know not to call him by that. He noticed Gaara walking silently next to him. Naruto introduced him. "Everyone, this is the new guy: Gaara." Then he stepped aside to reveal the blonde boy and girl following him in dark silence. "And this is his brother and sister, Temari and Kankuro."

Sasuke nodded a greeting to the trio. He looked at Temari and the two met eyes, but she broke away, looking sideways- as if the look of him would give away her secret.

He noticed the sudden stop in the loud breathing of both Rock Lee and Tenten. Neji's eyes clouded quietly. But Sakura only chirped. "Hi hi! I'm Haruno Sakura!"

Naruto didn't seem to have noticed either as he babbled away. Tenten smiled stiffly at the three, "Excuse us, but we have to get class earlier today." She dragged Sasuke off, following behind Neji.

"Okay Uchiha, I know that my dad doesn't mind me having a variety of friends, but seriously, those three?! What the heck are you trying to pull?" She hissed in an aggressive whisper as she cornered him behind the school as she used a hand to pin his shoulder to the wall.

Sasuke looked into her eyes and noticed the worry and fear. He still didn't understand; what was so bad about them? They were only new, so how come every student here seemed like they already knew who they were? He knocked her hand away and gave a silent side-glance at Neji, who was looking darkly at the ground.

Suddenly, the air turned cold.

Tenten stepped away, suddenly realizing. "You don't know, do you?"

What didn't he know? He wanted to know. He knew there was something odd about them, but what was it? Was this whole rumor about them- the one Tenten was asking him about-, was this why he could sense the coldness from them?

Tenten turned to Neji, waiting for him to tell Sasuke. "Well, you're the current heir to the town-leader clan, Neji, after the Uchihas stepped down. You tell him."

Sasuke stood still, still next to the wall. He wanted to seem like he didn't care whether or not Neji chose to tell him, but in reality, he did.

"17 years ago, in a town called Sunagakure, there was an experiment." Neji started. "It was an experiment, conducted by the town leader himself, to create a modified human. It was so that they could use it to become more powerful. They thought that if it worked, they could gain control over all the other towns. So naturally, the finished product was meant to kill."

He closed his eyes, as if he could see a horror movie playing in front of him, too sickening to see. "He used his own son, his wife was pregnant, so they inserted modified genes to mutate the baby. A few days later, the fetus made it out alive: it ate its way out of its mother's stomach, killing her."

Neji's eyes opened and they showed a cloud of dark fright just by speaking. "It worked. Half boy, half animal...it lived off human flesh. They lost control over him the moment he was born, and he manage to feed off his entire town. But that wasn't enough; he came to the Konoha too. Since then, nobody's seen him."

"That was 17 years ago. But now, he's back in the Konoha. He's the new kid"

"Gaara."

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Red hair. Green eyes. Pale skin.

He didn't look like an animal, nor a monster. He looked like everyone else, normal.

Sasuke had his fingers laced together, propping is two hands underneath his chin as he continued listening to Kakashi's lecture. But he couldn't help the dark look on his face as he watched Gaara from behind.

Flashback.

_He grabbed Gaara by the collar and slammed him into the lockers. Blood trickled down his forehead, yet Sasuke didn't see any movement from him that cued that he was planning to fight back._

End of Flashback.

It couldn't be possible. That monster couldn't have been the same Gaara he was sitting behind right now. If he was, then why? Why didn't he just rip his arm off? That monster 17 years ago was made to be a fighting machine, so if Gaara was that monster, then he would've fought. Why would he just have stood there and let himself look weak?

Sasuke knew that if he was Gaara, and he was being picked on, he would found a way to be above them. He would've stood up for himself. But no matter what, no matter what they did, or he did, he would never let them make him look so...fragile. And if they did, then he would've hated them to their death. But Gaara didn't look like he hated them: he looked like he was taking all the hate in. As if he thought he deserved it. If he was a monster...

That's just not what monsters did.

And her...that girl. She was the one killing the people, not Gaara. It would make more sense if it was Gaara...that way, he'd be the one killing out of hunger...

The thought of a human eating a dead corpse's flesh; sinking teeth into skin and letting the red melt into the mouth...it made Sasuke go cold. He didn't want to think about it, yet his mind tortured him by making him think.

He was glad to get out of physics class. He didn't want to have Gaara in his mind. He needed to stop thinking about other people. He didn't want that annoying buzz in his head to come back, the one that made him break all the rules. But it was coming.

It was the end of the day, and Sasuke still wasn't free to go yet. He still had four more days left of the week to endure Kakashi's crazy detentions. And it was all because of that sudden decision he made to jump in and defend her- Temari. Now, it all seemed like such a bad idea. Yet, he still felt it was somewhat right...

_You idiot. _Sasuke told himself. It wasn't right. It was only a stupid mistake, nothing else. He was about to slide the door open, but his hand froze when he suddenly realized that he would have to face her. Her.

Flashback.

_Red. There was red. Red trickling from her fingertips. Too much red. She stood sideways, looking up into the moon. Faraway, wistful. As if she was trying to drink in something in pain. _

_She turned her head._

_Their eyes met._

End of Flashback.

He looked down and saw his hand. It was shaking.

_No._

_Don't make me go. _

_I don't want to see._

_No more red._

_Onii-chan!!!!_

A little boy. He heard a little boy scream.

But he didn't look around...he realized that it was from him. And with enough mental force, he overthrew the screaming agony that rung of the one thing he hated: fear. He slid open the door.

The chalkboard was scratching against green, which was explainable because Naruto was scribbling stick-men pictures of him severely hurting Kakashi in many various ways. Seeing him first gave Sasuke a sudden wave of relief. Maybe Temari had ditched.

He walked to a desk and sat there, waiting for Kakashi to come and curse them with his torture-of-the-day. He chose the seat by the window and then looked to the door. Then, he saw her.

Those endless green eyes that hollowed inside her...they were boring into him. He hid his shock. How long had she been there? How could he have not noticed? He had walked right past her, without feeling the coldness seeping from her body. He made a realization that he probably would never had felt the ice freezing his blood if he had never noticed her.

Her stare. It was almost a threat. He had to use so much strength not to look away. Looking away would show weakness, and he was not scared of her. And the moment she seemed to have thought that Sasuke was not cowering under her stare, a waver flashed across her face. Suddenly, it was as if she was dependent on Sasuke.

He caught it. Now, she looked unsure. She was scared.

He knew her secret.

And with just a sentence, he could cause her world to collapse.

He felt power...yet, this time, he didn't like it.

It was odd, how one would always want to know everything. Yet being blind was just so much easier. Whereas knowing...

Knowing was feeling everything.

"Good afternoon." Kakashi walked in with the usual leisure. He faced the three students and smiled. "And how are we all today?"

None of them answered. He turned around to see the stick people. There were many of them. One with a stick figure pushing another one off a cliff. One with a stick figure stabbing another in the foot. One with a stick figure making another eat brussel sprouts (which Sasuke wasn't sure how that was supposed to kill Kakashi). So on and so forth. They filled up the whole board.

If Kakashi was offended, he showed no sign of it on his face. Instead he only smiled. But Sasuke could tell by the slight smugness on his face that what he was planning to say was not good for them. Silently, he cursed Naruto for his idioticy once again.

"Hmm...what interesting artwork, Naruto-kun. Very artistic, I see...Well then, to make things more fun today, how about we color one of the streets downtown today?" He smiled. None of them opposed they knew that doing so would only lead to more unusual punishment.

To any kid who didn't know Kakashi well enough, they would thought the trip would be fun. But the three stuck in detention with him knew Kakashi well enough that when he said "color" the streets...it wasn't going to be good.

And they were right. By "coloring" Kakashi meant completely filling a block with chalk. He handed them each a box of chalk. When he got to Naruto, he smiled at his scowl, only to pat his spiky blonde hair. "Now you can be artistic all you want Naruto-kun. Now go have some fun."

From mid-noon to sunset, they were stared at by city-goers as they knelt on the sidewalks and color every centimeter of pavement. By the time they were finished, all three boxes of chalk were empty, and not even a stub of chalk was left. All of the colored powder was either on the ground, or on their skin.

They parted ways the moment they were finished. They were all too annoyed to socialize. Sasuke made his way to the east of town; his apartment was on the very edge of the Konoha. Apparently, Temari's place was the direct opposite way. They crossed paths.

"I won't tell if you tell me why." He said quietly, facing the other way.

She didn't bother to look at him, only ahead. She seemed tempted to fall for his deal, he sensed hesitation...and then anger at herself.

"I can't."

It was a voice that seemed to yearn to reach for something, but couldn't, as if she was forbidden to. As if she was chained back.

Then she walked away, as if she heard nothing.

Knowing brings everything into one's life. Including hurt.

Yet Sasuke still wanted to know.

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"Oh god, here they come again." Shikamaru groaned, as he clamped his ears with his hands.

Sakura and Sasuke stood by each other as they looked up the tree and found Shikamaru where he usually was, sleeping on a branch. Shikamaru had a habit of choosing not to go to class and deciding that his sleep was much more important. The teachers complained once and a while, but they couldn't really give him a detention. He still passed every single test.

Sakura looked around curiously, as Sasuke called out. "Who? Naruto?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "No, even worse."

Tenten ran up from behind the tree and tagged the trunk. She called over her shoulder, "Beat you Lee!" And then she joined in on the conversation. "What can possibly be worse than Uzumaki?"

Shikamaru groaned as the door of the building opened. "Seniors."

A sea of bodies rushed out of the building, obnoxious in every single way. Sasuke watched as older guys stampeded over freshmen without a care, knocking into each other as if the simple process of going to lunch was some sort of a football game. Most girls snootily looked down on other students, as if they smelt something atrocious that others couldn't.

Temari could easily be seen in the crowd, for although the group of seniors seemed packed; there was an open circle around her, as if everyone was too scared to be near her. She didn't seem to have cared at all, nor did she seem to have noticed as she walked to Sasuke's group, where Gaara happened to be at with Naruto.

Sasuke noticed how instead of sitting with them and trying to fit in, both Temari and Kankuro sat at a bench, watching them carefully. Mostly, their eyes were on Gaara, who seemed uncomfortable with so much talking (on Naruto's behalf). The look on their faces...it was darkly protective.

"You've noticed too." Shikamaru commented Sasuke's mood quietly from above.

"Have you heard the rumor about them?" Sasuke asked, still observing the two older siblings from the corner of his eyes.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Nah. I figured most of the stuff they all say is just to make themselves think that life isn't boring. Either that," He looked towards Temari, "or they just exaggerate."

Shikamaru cut off from his sentence and called out to Temari. "Hey, watch out."

Right after he said so, a spitball came close to flying into Temari's hair. She was quick to block it with a loose-leaf paper and crumpled it up. Shikamaru muttered under his breath, "That's one tough chick."

Temari's dull green looked towards her right as she spied the senior guys that were throwing things at her. She didn't bother to tell them to stop. As Shikamaru saw that, he sighed. "Ah, the issues with women."

Before an apple could hit Temari, Shikamaru caught it in one hand and tossed it casually up and down. He looked at the stairway in front of the door and called out, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you impress girls better by handing them the apple, not pegging them with it."

The three older guys looked obviously taller and more muscular than Shikamaru, but he didn't seem to care. They came out of hiding and one of them said, "Senior business squirt, we're doing you a favor."

Shikamaru yawned and replied. "How is picking on a girl going to make my life any better?" From afar, Sasuke could sense the challenge in his tone.

Temari quietly told him, "I don't need to be saved by some sort of guy."

Shikamaru responded, "Yeah, but sorry, I'm a stickler for old fashion rules. And apparently, guys aren't supposed to be picking on girls."

"Sexist." Temari muttered.

Shikamaru flashed a smirk. "Yeah, I guess I am."

As if his smile was some sort of a shock to her, as if she had never seen one before, an unguarded look of surprise hit her face. She looked away, avoiding his look.

"Hey, um, guys? You all look really, _really _strong. Would you mind running to get my purse back?" A high, falsetto voice gushed.

It was a long, black haired girl with a pretty face. She gave a flirty smile at the seniors as her voice went into a whiny-innocent tone. "It's stuck in the bushes on the other side of the yard and I can't get the thorns out of my way." She got up even closer to their faces with huge eyes, "Pretty please?"

"Uh...yeah, sure." They drooled, and ran off, eager to impress her.

However, they didn't know that she already made up her mind not to be impressed by them in the first place. She lost the flirty look and snorted. "Stupid. I don't even carry a purse." She turned towards Shikamaru, who had a pissed look on his face. She waved it off, "Yes, yes, I know. 'I could've handled it myself'." She imitated in the lowest voice she could go. "That's what they all say before they get booted into Principal Tsunade's office."

She went to Temari and boldly offered a hand. "Yukie Fumikaze."

Temari hesitated, but shook her hand, still caught off guard by the girl's open attitude towards her. It was as if she had never heard of the rumors that trailing Temari like a shadow- never leaving her to be. "Temari."

Yukie smiled. "Yes, it's hard kind of not to know your name by now isn't it?" She nodded towards the rest of the seniors. "You guys are just the most popular topics this week." She snorted. "It's nice for a change, instead of hearing never ending stories of bras and jeans."

She shrugged. "So, I was wondering. You seem like an interesting person. I like that. Want to go to a baseball game tomorrow night?"

Temari looked shocked. So this girl, Yukie, did know about them. Sasuke mused from his gang of sophomores by the tree, no longer paying attention to his own friends. He wondered whether or not Temari was going to accept her, unless she thought the girl was playing some kind of trick. But in reality, he noticed how all three seemed to always be caught surprised by the simplest acts of kindness.

"Um...Okay."

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The clouds hid the moon this evening, misting about it as if they wanted it to radiate their thin, frothy shapes. Shadows could be seen, gliding along the ground where pale light shone. The streets were mostly silent; midnight was the quietest hour. But Sasuke was up, finding himself lounging around a park outside of his apartment.

After spending hours with Sakura, he still wasn't tired. She'd already fallen asleep, so as always, he carried her back, just like he had been doing the past few weeks. Thinking about it, he wasn't sure why he was so restless. Then, he caught himself wondering if the few stragglers like him that were still out of their houses were safe...That was when he had realized that he couldn't let it go. He couldn't turn away and ignore a murderer. That uneasy feeling inside him.

It was anger.

Murderer.

That was the kind of person who had killed his family. the person who was to blame for why he was here. He should hate them. All of them.

_Onii-chan_.

Flashback.

_His parents lying on the ground._

_Dead._

_Red seeped out of them, drying the floor crimson. _

_His oto-san's face, it was sad, scared. No more of that stony look that made him look like a statue. He looked human. No, he didn't. He looked dead. Frozen in pain forever. Bleeding not only on the outside- with his blood covering his face- but inside too, where Sasuke couldn't see. But he could tell._

_His oka-san. She was gone, gone forever. He knew that with just that one look on her face. That face, it was all he would be able to remember for the rest of his life. Her eye-welling pale face stricken with sorrow, her heart-twisting open mouth- midway between a scream for grief and fear. He would never be able to come back home from school and be greeted by a warm smile. He would never be able to listen to stories from a lullaby voice under warm covers. He would never see them again._

_He was alone._

_Now, he could only remember them as this. The last memory:_

_Scared._

_Hurting._

_Dead._

_Backstabbed. _

_He looked up into those red eyes. Red for blood. For evil. Evil was what he was. A traitor, and everything else inhumane in the world. He hated him._

_He wanted to kill him._

_But he was too scared._

_He still clung on to the hope that maybe those red eyes still had his onii-chan in them, and he would take him into warm arms and make everything okay again. Only a nightmare to wake up from; once woken up, everything was fine again._

_But he knew that was wrong._

_He still couldn't hate him completely thought._

_And that was what made him hate so much._

End of Flashback.

This was a girl killing people with families, with lives that they wanted to live. She was killing people like his mother and father, who had people that depended on them. People like his old self. He wasn't going to let that happen.

This was it, he couldn't take the aching inside anymore. The aching that annoyed him and yelled at him each time he saw her repeat his past. Seeing her, he'd see his brother. And that day, those days, with his brother in them, it made him sick with fury. For they were all fake. Lies to hide the ugly monster inside.

So he was going to get rid of those memories, by turning her in.

He was going to break the promise.

He didn't care; she was causing him too much trouble.

And he was all that mattered to him.

He made his way slowly to a nightclub, passing by store windows with televisions on display. They were still turned on, each and every one of them showing the same reporter.

"The numbers of disappearances are rising in Konoha as the kidnapper or murderer is still at large..."

The nightclub only had a few people there. Mostly teenagers that ignored the news and were too stupid to worry about their safety. Without a reason, he found himself not going into the nightclub, but instead, walking to the alley behind it. He felt something dark in there. Something that was ominous, challenging him to step into the wrath of shadows.

"H-hey...it was just a joke...we were just having some fu-"

A senior Sasuke recognized from one of his classes never got to finish his guilty, lying, slurred sentence as a quick line of red suddenly streaked across his chest.

"Wha-"

The bottle of beer he held dropped. Glass fragmented at one touch of pavement. The boy fell, stuck forever with horror-wide eyes and an unfinished word written over his mouth. Once he fell, Sasuke could see a girl against the worn brick walls, just as frightened as the boy had been before. Her fingers trembled at the cold wall, but she wasn't guilty of whatever the boy had been doing. The senior was drunk, Sasuke could tell, and the girl was most likely a victim of his recklessness.

Tears streaked down her cheek, she didn't wipe them as they smeared the eye make-up, making them seem hollow. "P-please...I didn't do anything...please..." She stuttered between hiccups and sobs.

The shadow...it's eyes flashed green against the small sliver of pure light that glowed through the clouds. At that one second, Sasuke knew who it was.

"I'm sorry. I have no choice."

And she died.

Temari took a step from the eclipsed overcast, the silver paled over her, making her seem like steel- stony cold. Yet there was something wrong with the whole picture, unfitting with the crimson drenching over the dirty paving, unfitting to the corpses lying on the ground. Something not right...something nostalgic.

Flashback.

_His oka-san._

_His oto-san._

_Why? Why?!_

_He was alone now, everything hurt. He didn't want to feel anymore. That thing inside him, the one the thumped so hard, the one that made him feel as if there were a million swords through him...he hated it. He wanted it to stop. Just stop._

_His onii-chan...why? Why did he do this? He wanted to hate him. He wanted to use all his rage to make him shed blood and suffer like he was suffering right now. But most of all, he wanted the desire, the strength and wanting to hurt him, despise him. _

_But he couldn't._

_He couldn't bring himself to do it. To hate him. To make him wither under torture._

_For those red eyes. Those red eyes that were supposed to glow of evil._

_They wept of pain._

End of Flashback.

Crying. Invisible tears of pain. Those green eyes...behind the void of coldness, there was an even larger, infinite space of suffering eating her away.

That was what was wrong. Sasuke had once been taught by his teachers, when he was younger, that bad people who did horrible things did not really care about what they did, or their victims. They knew what they were doing was wrong, but sometimes they thought what they did was right. But for those who knew their crime, it didn't matter to them, who suffered, who didn't. They simply enjoyed it. Watching people writhe in their grasp.

Why then?

Why was this girl not grinning a twisted smile that all villains did? Why was she not feeling a dark power rise in her as she looked down at the sufferers?

Why was she regretting everything?

She looked away, carrying off the bodies as if seeing their faces- the lives that were loved that she had taken away- would be too painful to see. She disappeared. Sasuke was alone once more.

He followed her. She was quick, blurring along the top of each building. Her place was a desolated house, like a cabin. It was worn down; the yellow paint was molding to brown and peeling off. Its presence seemed to be guilty of the wilting grass and the bare trees that were shriveling like fingers of a witch. There was almost a cloud over it; dark imprints of unrested ghosts that howled warnings in the wind.

Temari reappeared at the front porch, the wood creaking under her feet. Sasuke hid with his back against a dying tree a few yards away as he barely avoided her cautious glance. She opened the door and walked in.

Sasuke took the chance and quickly darted over to the window. He turned his head and looked inside. It was dark, darker than the allies in the streets. The only source of light was the dull one that came from the cloud-blocked moon. It shafted across the dirty glass, and over to the rotting wood floor.

Sasuke felt his stomach lurch. Something was deadly in there, something menacing, so dangerous...it was unbearable to put in words. The blood-lust of just one room...it was too much. But that wasn't the main reason why Sasuke felt like throwing up.

In the dull light, he could see blood gleaming.

Along with snapped bones.

Ripped flesh.

"You got an extra one this time, Temari." A boy's voice said in an expressionless yet darkly amused tone. "Are you having some fun on you little excursions."

Sasuke could tell it was the junior from before. The other brother.

The only response was a cold silence. Sasuke could sense the dark fury coming from the girl. But the sensation only lasted for a second when she responded.

"I don't live to feel emotions."

The lack of response showed how much her brother agreed, as they laid the two bodies in front of another shadow. Sasuke felt another strangle in his stomach. That shadow...crouched at the corner. It was like a monster waiting for years, wanting blood more than anything in his life. Thirsty, hungry. It's eyes...they were bright white, with only two dots as pupils shaking wildly in excitement.

Sasuke felt himself puke in his mouth as he saw the creature begin to feast on the two corpses. In his head, he could hear silent screams from the spirits of each body with every bite he took. Once he was done on the first, Sasuke closed his eyes. He tried to calm the shrieking little boy inside him. He dared himself to look again. He saw the stains of blood as the shadow wiped it off his mouth along with the saliva. He saw it's tongue lick off the crimson in satisfaction, the raw flesh stuck in between the sharp teeth.

He saw Gaara.

Sasuke took in a huge breath, but he forgot to breath out when Gaara started on the next person. The pale face of his victim caught a bit of the dull light.

Yukie Fumikaze.

The girl who had stood up for Temari. The girl who had ignored the rumors and tried to know Temari, see her as a person. The girl who had given Temari a way out of the loneliness. All of it was gone.

Gaara stopped. His lips moved, Sasuke could hear his word. "You knew her."

Temari tried to turn away, turn away from the guilt constricting her throat. But it was too late. She knew. She knew she had just killed her only chance at being accepted. She killed a person kind enough to give her a hand out of darkness.

"No..." She whispered and collapsed. Her weak voice, it was hoarse with silent sobbing. She was a monster herself, heartless. How she wanted so much to belong, to be normal. She hated this, living like this, in the dark. She was so disgusted at everything. Herself. She shuddered in her rage of emotions, he longings. She struggled inside, trying to shut all the feelings down. But it was useless, the entire holding back...she had been holding back too long. There is a limit when you hold things, and when you surpass that limit, eventually, everything bursts.

_She's just like onii-chan...poor, poor-_

_Yes, just like Itachi._

_A weak monster._

He finished the thought, silencing the young voice. He didn't want to hear it, about his poor "onii-chan" who was suffering inside. He was past that, "that" meaning forgiving. He wanted someone to balme. Someone to hate. For it there was no one to hate, how would he ever get the burning, black flames off his chest? But listening to the little boy, it would confuse him. It would give him second thoughts.

Could he really forgive his brother?

His choice...did he suffer while making his decisions, like Temari right now?

No. No he didn't. And yes, he was like Temari. Hurting others selfhishly now, then regretting later. Weak and worthless.

He looked back in the window, Gaara had finished, but he looked...like hell. He had his knees drew to his chest, almost like he was cold in his own darkness. He rocked back and forth, frightened...at his own self.

"I'm so sorry, Temari. It's my fault. I'm, I'm, I'm a-"

"No." She snapped in a quiet, empty tone. She got up, her eyes dark, but wavering in the pain that was hollowing her. She walked out the door, trying to appear calm, but it was useless. She stumbled out, shocking in her own fear and disgust. "I-I don't have any feelings."

Sasuke saw Gaara left alone in the dark. Even after that, Sasuke was still having that same darting feeling. His breath was shallow and quick, he felt like his beating in his chest could kill him. His eyes were wide and shaking, a torture of fear as he realized: Gaara could kill him- his life could end right there.

He looked back at Gaara and saw:

He had the same expression as Sasuke.

"You!" Suddenly, furious green eyes entered his vision.

She held a knife, extending her arm to his throat. He breathed, the in and out of the front of his neck brushing the pinprick tip. The tip that could stab him if it touched him any harder. Yet, he wasn't afraid. He gazed into her eyes, uninitiated.

Her eyes. They were unstable. They didn't even appear to be angry at him. They were angry. But the hatred was toward herself. The revulsion, the denial, the disgust. A battle that she tried to keep a secret forever, a battle that brought her world winking to a pit-less fire. The battle between right and wrong.

Before he could think anything else, something inside her snapped. Temari launched forward, bringing the knife closer and closer to ripping his throat. "I should've done this sooner...I'll end this!"

But the sound of steel brushing the grass blew in the isolated wind. The knife laid on the grass, and Temari's face was only inches from his. He was calm. He knew that she had come to realize, that when you try ridding the perishing inside of you by hurting someone else, you eventually come to know: it does no good.

He face was twisted in confusion and frustration. "I can't do it." She breathed, the fight inside her raging even more. "Why?"

He watched her shoulders fall up and down. She reminded her so much, so much of..._him._

_Onii-chan..._

Flashback.

_His onii-chan...a shadow trying to make himself as small as possible, hidden in the darkness. Sasuke heard the sounds coming from the corner where he was. They were crying sounds. That made him scared._

_His onii-chan was supposed to be brave. He was that person Sasuke could look up and see a smile on his face. And now, that person was down on his knees. Instead of being the hero, the courageous knight standing tall, beating the bad guys, he was the one hurting._

_"Onii-chan...what's wrong?" _

_When his onii-chan looked up, Sasuke saw his face. It was almost as if...if he had been crying for days, and the hurting would never end. But that was weird, Sasuke had never seen him cry before. So why did it look like now, like he had been crying all along? Confused all along? His eyes...they looked like they were burning with hurt._

_He took a step back, scared. "O-Onii-chan?"_

_"Sasuke. I don't know what to do anymore..." His voice was shaky, like walking on glass about to shatter into nothing, letting one fall into the pit of darkness._

_Sasuke wanted to make his brother feel better. Just so he could go back to the one that was allowed to cry and reach out a hand for help. He walked forward, but then, his onii-chan shouted in a voice that shattered in his ears. _

_"Stay away!"_

_Sasuke flinched. He was scared, but he wanted his normal onii-chan back._

_His onii-chan clutched his head and shivered furiously as he whispered. "I'm the bad guy now...stay away, please."_

_Sasuke went up to hug him. His onii-chan didn't feel big and strong. No, he was trembling like someone possibly smaller than even himself. Sasuke hugged him tighter. "Onii-chan could never be a bad guy." His voice pure with innocence._

_His onii-chan laughed, it was such a sad laugh was he whispered. "Oh...but I am, Sasuke...I can't help but hate as much as I love..."_

_"Loving and hating at the same time...it's like having a war inside you...You can't do both at the same time."_

_"So it's like hell, only worse because you're still alive."_

End of Flashback.

_Just like onii-chan...are you good or bad?..._

He saw all the faces white in shock. All the faces with eyes of pain. All the faces with mouths dripping with their own blood at the corners. All the faces of those she had killed. Innocent victims of her own cause.

_Onii-chan...why oka-san...why oto-san...? Why...?_

"Why." He quietly said. "You have to stop." He didn't want to see this. His past being replayed.

She fell to the ground. She gripped the grass tightly, as if if she didn't hold on tight enough, something would drag her even deeper into conflict.

"Shut up!" She grabbed her hair, pulling on it hard. Almost hoping the pain could replace the one buried in her heart like a bullet. He eyes were wild and unsteady as she shook violently. It was killing her inside.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"I know, I know I'm horrible. I know what I'm doing is wrong. So, so just shut up!" And that thought was the one destroying her, breaking her apart.

She shut her eyes tight. His words...they were shattering her. Silently trying to fight the remorse was useless, so she yelled in an unstable voice. "Just go away! Leave me alone! I know already, okay!?! I know!"

She stayed there, crushed under guilt, with Sasuke no longer in her mind. For the rest of the night, she fought the war inside her, trying to escape the hell that was devastating her. Yet in the end:

She was still trapped in the very middle.

**

* * *

**

**A/N: I'm so so sorry about not uploading for such a long time! Like I said on my profile, I've been super busy! I'm lucky I even got this uploaded since Chinese New Year is coming really close!!!**

**Warning, this is the goriest arc of the story. Sorry. I'm having a hard time writing it...being all bloody and monstery is hard. Anyway, this arc is where Sasuke's past starts to really unravel, especially with him and his brother. The next chapter's gonna tell more about Itachi.**

**I don't think there's any new vocab...**

**Please review!!! I really want to get to at least 100 reviews! I mean, I write so many chapters, and yet there's so little reviews...I feel kinda pathetic...**

**So do me a favor please and just leave any ol' review!!!**


	16. Love, Hate

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Chapter 16: Love, Hate

Two smiles.

One belonging to a little boy, free of worries and burdens. The purity of his face, innocence melting in his gray eyes. He was leaning on someone, someone was supporting him as he held the little boy on his shoulders.

The other smile belonged to him. The grown boy lending his strength. He stood tall, almost noble. One look at him, and you could tell that he was close to perfect. His eyes were directed toward the camera, yet his smile to the boy on his shoulders; warm, protective.

The orange splinter in the sky that raced across the dark horizon crept over the wood floor and blazed over the picture. The glass shone with a hint of cadmium yellow. A yellow breath of warmth over two smiles.

Two brothers.

A shadow stretched in, breaking through the amber. Sasuke stood in front of the kitchen table, looking over the picture frames of familiar faces. Too familiar for comfort. Memories. Memories that once meant nothing to him...they were coming back. And suddenly, he wished he would stop remembering.

Watching the smile on his brother's face...his face was a serene cloudiness of reminiscence.

If he looked closer, how much would he see of what he couldn't in his brother from those years? Would he be able to see the age on the corner of his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for months? Would he be able to see how pale from inward suffering his skin was? Would he be able to see how his face looked so fragile from being hollowed from the inside, how much he lost his sureness?

It was yes to all, except the very one question he wanted to say "yes" to: Would he be able to see behind the lying mask of kindness, to reveal the backstabbing face of a selfish demon that only cared for his own life?

No. For despite how much he could see the suffering that he never had noticed before, he also discovered something else now: The will the love, to protect at all costs.

_**Loving and hating at the same time...it's like living in hell...**_

Flashback

_Stars in the sky, contrasting the black. He was restless. He couldn't sleep; it was too exciting, sleeping outside on the roof with his onii-chan. Wiggling in his sleeping bag, he said. "Onii-chan, I can't sleep. Tell me a story."_

_His brother was sitting up, looking at the moon. He looked at him. Sasuke thought it was weird, how a lot of times now, his onii-chan would look at him like he forgot Sasuke was even there. Like he was too deep in his thoughts, so lost in them that he looked scared when Sasuke called him back to reality. Sasuke had always found this silly. His silly onii-chan, he couldn't get lost by just thinking hard. After all, he was still in the same place as before. So there was nothing to be afraid of. But something told him that it would hurt his onii-chan's feelings if he told him that. It he told him that, then that sad, faraway smile would come back; that was the smile he had on a lot now. It was like that smile had a secret. And Sasuke didn't like secrets, especially if they were being kept from him._

_"Alright Sasuke, I'll tell you a story." He gave him that sad smile again._

_"Tell me that story that oka-san told me. The one about the super hero!" Sasuke demanded._

_His onii-chan laughed. "How about I tell you a new on today. About a person who was a bad guy and a good guy."_

_Sasuke looked at him curiously, "A hero and a bad guy at the same time? That's not possible!" _

_That look was on his face again, except now, it even looked sadder as he looked away. "But it is. You see, this person was going to do a bad thing for a good reason, but he thought maybe he was doing it for a bad reason too. He didn't know whether he was good or bad." _

_To Sasuke, it didn't seem like a story, but a riddle. It confused his head as he let his onii-chan finish._

_"Maybe he was both."_

End of Flashback.

_Itachi, you liar._

He stared at the picture with gray eyes, possibly the same eyes he saw in his brother that same night of the memory as well.

Good or bad.

Sacrafice,

or betrayal.

It was one or another. Opposites could not conjoin.

So which one was it?

For Itachi?

Temari?

* * *

"Get up, what are you doing here?" Sasuke looked at Shikamaru, sleeping on a bench across an electronics store with his hands behind his head as if he was lounging on a beach. Sasuke rolled his eyes. He found it amusing how such an intelligent person could possibly be found sleeping on a street-bench. "You look like a beggar."

Shikamaru yawned and then groaned when he saw it was Sasuke. "What you do want. Leave me in peace, Uchiha."

Sasuke replied in the same un-amused tone when he was around his schoolmates. "You're going to be late."

Shikamaru snorted as if the concept of being late to school was funny. It kind of was, considering it was useless going to class since he slept through each and every one anyway. But he stood up and stretched. "Fine." He scratched his head. "And there's a difference between begging and enjoying clouds."

"The killings continue, and police _still _haven't found neither victims nor murder. The approximate disappearances have risen to over forty. Citizens of Konoha are strongly urged to stay in their houses during night hours..."

Both boys remained silent as they listened to the short excerpt of the morning news from the sample television on display. Then, Shikamaru spoke, breaking the solemn mood with sarcasm. "Yes, tanks for the news. You got anything else new and shocking you want to enlighten us with for the- oh, I don't know- 61st time this month?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow and Shikamaru noticed. "It's hard not to count if the damn news has been killing your cloud watching time by making your mother a crazy woman."

They walked to an intersection and took a turn. Sasuke felt a draft of cold air. Odd, it was spring. He looked behind him and realized where the chill was coming from.

It was the siblings: Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari.

Their eyes faced forward, looking right through both him and Shikamaru, as if they were both too non-important to exist in their view.

Shikamaru must have felt the same, since he turned around and called out to them, "Hey, that place of yours- where ever you guys came from- did they ever teach you how to socialize?"

Kankuro called out with a snort. "Yeah, they told us how not to waste our time. Which includes socializing with losers."

Shikamaru smirked and turned the other way, walking forward while still keeping the conversation. "If you insist then. Sure, we'll play a game. What do you want to play?"

Kankuro laughed in a sardonic tone. "Ha. Ha. Funny. I don't play games when I already know who's gonna win."

Shikamaru said. "Oh, I see." But the smug look on Kankuro's face was wiped off to show an annoyed look when he continued. "Then we can play some other time if you want, so your sister and brother don't have to see you lose." Then Shikamaru shrugged and said while yawning. "But that's fine with me, not playing a game. It's too bothersome anyway."

For the next few minutes it was silent as Gaara and Temari pretended not to hear the talking. Gaara refused to acknowledge them while Temari only look around, avoiding Sasuke and Shikamaru's eyes, not wanting to have anything to do with them.

Then, Kankuro spoke, "You're not bad, kid."

The two became to only people contributing to the talk while the other three stayed quiet. They continued to talk casually, all the way to the high school, where they reached the main foyer of the school.

Naruto was (surprisingly) among the crowd (usually, he was late) and called out to Gaara. Sasuke wondered how a loud, obnoxious, no-brain like Naruto who was always happy ever came to like a guy as anti-social and quietly expressionless as Gaara. Gaara followed Naruto silently up the staircase to class. Despite the major differences in their personalities, Naruto was the only person Gaara would speak to.

Kankuro and Shikamaru shared their first class as Kankuro continued to hang with Shikamaru, walking separate ways from Gaara as they were about to go to the corridors to the right. Sasuke found it interesting; it was the first time that Kankuro didn't follorw Gaara with Temari and watch guardedly with lifeless yes.

But Temari wasn't ready to abandon their routine. It was required. Before he

could leave them to go with Shikamaru, Temari grabbed Kankuro by the arm.

"Kankuro..." She warned in a worried yet stern tone that an older sister would have. But he shrugged it off and walked away, leaving her alone with a waver of uncertainty in her eyes.

Worried. Anxious. Jealous.

* * *

Over the next few days, the cycle was about the same. Sasuke's detention was over, as was Temari's. so the two didn't have to accompany Naruto with Kankuro anymore. Thank God for that. But that didn't stop Sasuke from finding Temari in the streets. She was still killing. But not everyday anymore.

Since that day, the day she found Sasuke spying on them, Sasuke always had a haunting shudder each night she would plan to hunt. Somehow, he would choose the right day to catch her killing...it was just that chilling feeling he'd get when the sun would begin to set. It would make him restless, but even worse, it would bring a rush of memories to him, as if he were living them again. Memories. Of his brother.

He wasn't sure whether of not she was aware that he was watching her, but she seemed hesitant now.

She would freeze when her blade- shining with intent of execution- was a centimeter away from the pulsing flesh for a split second before ending the beating of a heart

She would look away, her eyes closed in pain, each time she burried her knife into skin; refusing the see the faces...it looked like it would bring too much of everything for her: too much guilt, frustration, hate.

And then when her job was done- the cement was soaked with puddles of blood- she would bring the knife- the silent, steel creature dripping in cruelty- to her face and look into it, looking at the reflection. Even from the distance, he could see that what she saw in the shining steel was a brutal, heartless creature. But what showed on her real face wasn't what she saw, but a face of guilt, sorrow, and uncertainty.

That was the face she had on all the time. But in the day, when she wasn't alone, there would be a mask concealing her. It wasn't a mask that pretended her to be happy. It was an emotionless one. She would walk around school like a ghost, silently with a stony face. Yet, all at the same time, she wasn't a ghost. Everyone talked about her- how isolated she way- in her face. She didn't hide in bathrooms or rush through the hallways just to get out of school. She only endured it. Because in reality, this was only the smallest piece of the hell she had been living in for years.

The only affection she seemed to have showed was only for her two younger brothers. Yet this kind of sisterly love was different. It was hard, protective, determined. Determination to continue to throw her own life aside for the sake of her brothers. Yet all the same, he face would be different when she was watching them: the smallest smile would be faintly on her lips, one that read how much they meant to her- they were her world.

Everyone knew how she cared about Gaara especially. She would sit at a bench during lunch and watch Gaara with his new group lifelessly, refusing any offers to join them. She gave up her chance at college to take care of her brothers, it all didn't matter. Her life didn't matter to herself anymore.

Occasionally, Temari would allow her longing for an own life. Some would talk to her, brave enough to walk against the current of rumors that told how heartless she was. They would realize she was actually normal, and try befriending her. But they would take back their offer of friendship when they would realize that she was _his _sister. Gaara's.

Then they would be like everyone else again, They would let the current take them. They would walk away in rushed fear. Then, she would be alone again. Left to suffer.

"Temari, I'm sorry." that's what he would always say. Gaara. He would look down at the ground and tell her this quietly as he watched her being left alone in a hurry to get away from him. Sasuke could hear it, the hate in his voice. He knew that Gaara- the same boy who was a monster- was at the time, human. He loved. HE loved his sister. And like all humans, he hated. And that was himself. For while his sister would sacrifice the life that she could've - should've, and disserved- to have if he didn't exist, he could only return her with the darkness of being emotionless and writhing under guilt.

And her reply would always be. "I don't care." As she walked away to try making him feel unguilty. But her face told otherwise. It told that she was suffering, she wanted someone to save her. But she would never show it. She knew that showing it would make her want it even more.

And that meant that the battling inside her would crush her even more.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the bench he found Shikamaru sleeping at. There was no moonlight shining over the wood this time, only gray. Then moon was hidden behind a sea of clouds. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about Shikamaru. It was odd, considering that Shikamaru was the least annoying person of the group. But tonight, Sasuke felt that something was wrong.

He swore at his intuition as he flipped open his cellphone and dialed Shikamaru's number.

"Hello?" A woman with a sharp voice answered.

"Is Shikamaru there?"

"No. This is his mother. He hasn't been home in hours." She seemed angry. Then she said before hanging up in a cool tone. "I'm guessing you're one of his friends with that Uzumaki." Sasuke didn't blame her for thinking of him as a bad influence if Shikamaru had introduced her to Naruto as a friend. She continued. "Well, tell him when you see him tell him that if he doesn't get here in ten minutes, he is in so much trouble."

Ignoring the harsh words that she hung up with, a dull panic rose in his chest. It was already past midnight. Plus, he wasn't sleeping here on the bench, where he could see the clouds the best. He wasn't anywhere.

He jammed his phone back into his pocket and started heading to the poorer areas downtown- where Temari was known to appear the most. He arrived at the front of a shadowed alleyway. He saw two silhouettes by the walls. He was about to step forward and interrupt, but he froze when he heard the breathing.

It was heavy. Thirsty. It stunk of bloodlust.

Sasuke didn't dare to move any closer. He froze and felt himself shiver under the cold that rushed into him

_Gaara!_

He was leaned over Shikamaru, and even in the darkness, Sasuke saw the rawness of his skin. The savage drool coming from his mouth, his breath hovering over the prey, stinking of rotting flesh. His eyes were ringed with red veins. He looked even more like a monster.

Sasuke shook as Gaara came closer to cutting Shikamaru's throat.

"U-um..." Shikamaru didn't know what was going on.

There was no guilt in Gaara's eyes. Only hunger that was what mattered to him. It didn't matter that he knew Shikamaru as a human. It no longer mattered that he wasone of the people who had kindly accepted him.

Sasuke turned away and shut his eyes.

"Gaara. You have to stop."

Sasuke turned. He knew that voice. Clouded, fatal, and yet defensive.

Temari.

She stood at in between Shikamaru and Gaara, with a tight grip on her brother's clawed hands that was once of a normal human's. She was unafraid of being hurt, Sasuke could tell as she looked into Gaara's red eyes. If there was a fear she forgot to hide, it was the fright for her brother...his slow slipping grip on humanity.

The look of care and fear in his sister's eyes snapped Gaara out of his trance. He fought the thirsty spirit inside him and backed up from Shikamaru with wide eyes of disbelief.

"I-I..."

Before he could say any more, Kankuro entered the scene. Kankuro looked around and then at Gaara, he tried to appear calm, but forgot to hide the sympathy on his face. "Shit. That thing's getting hungrier every day." He looked behind him and saw Shikamaru, who was still unsure what to do as he stood there. "The kid's seen everything. Temari, I'll leave you to finish him off."

Sasuke looked down on the ground. She wouldn't do it. Would she?

Temari took one look on Shikamaru's face and unsheathed her knife.

She threw it to the ground.

"Get out. Now. And don't say a word."

Shikamaru looked calm as he took a step from the wall. "I don't get to ask any questions, huh?"

Temari closed her eyes in frustration as she sensed her two brother's look of bewilderment on her. "Just, go. It's my pay back for you that other day."

She didn't look at him as he left the alley.

Suddenly, another shadow appeared. It caught Sasuke by surprise; he turned his head back forward.

"What's going on?" Sasuke knew that voice. It was that new teacher that had transferred along with the siblings. Baki.

He looked back into the alley and watched as the teacher looked at Gaara, who was shivering on the ground. Gaara stuttered in guilt and fear.

"Dammit Gaara, you know your not supposed to go out of the house at night. That's Temari's job."

"I-it's getting stronger. I can't control it. I-It's taking over me."

Baki turned from Gaara and then to Kankuro. He showed frustration in his voice. "Kankuro! You were supposed to be watching him! That was your job!"

Kankuro looked down on the ground stubbornly and muttered, "How am I supposed to keep an eye on him twenty four seven? I have a life you know."

Baki answered harshly. "No, your life is to watch Gaara. And watch yourself, you're getting weak. I've seen you, with that Nara kid too much. Remember what your here for. And that's not for friends."

Kankuro avoided his gaze, with a dark look of unfairness on his face. Then, he helped Gaara up and left without a word.

Baki then turned to Temari and said coolly. "You let him go."

Temari looked in his eyes with muted emptiness. She didn't deny it, but she was ashamed of it. He continued.

"What? You think he would keep this a secret?"

"No, I-

"You knew him, didn't you?"

Silence.

Baki's frustration grew. "Temari, if he tells anyone, then you three are all done for! Do you understand? Your job is to hunt for Gaara and take out any witnesses, and you've been slacking off!" Then he lowered his voice, as he understood the difficulty of her responsibility "Just hang on a little longer, until we finish with the experiment process. Until then, you have to-

"I know." She interrupted. She didn't want to hear any more of it. "Nothing else matters but this."

And then, she was left alone in the shadows. Standing in the midst of her thoughts. Sasuke was about to leave when he heard.

"Are you going to come out now?"

He walked into the walkway and looked at her. She reminded him so much of his brother, it was scary. The same voice, the same face. All filled with confusion.

He asked. "So, you're going to keep on doing this?"

She nodded and then said coldly. "I'm not like you normal people. I wasn't meant to live to feel emotions. I was meant to do this."

"To kill?"

"No," She looked at him in the eyes. There was hatred, love...both at the same time. He knew it was impossible, but he could just tell it in her eyes.

"To keep my brother happy."

* * *

Sasuke found himself standing alone beneath the tree during lunchtime. The juniors had a field trip today; Shikamaru was called to the office for sleeping in class all the time (yes, they have only just noticed) and Sakura was at an in-lunch meeting for art. As for Naruto, Sasuke actually thought Naruto would be here. Surprisingly enough, he didn't get any new lunch detentions today. So he had been expecting forty minutes of annoyance from him.

Instead, it was empty.

And once more, his intuition told him that something wasn't right yet again. But he ignored it and walked up to the top of the school building. He leaned on the wired fence, boredly looking up at the sky wondering how Shikamaru could possibly find it fun. Then he looked down.

He noticed something.

There were two figures at the back of the building, hiding in the shadows. They both looked familiar. He spotted a faint hint of blonde in on of the shadow's hair and a the other shadow...

He stopped. He knew who the other shadow was.

He ran down the stairs and to the back wall. He knew it.

The boy, not even a boy anymore- for the pale, sandiness of his skin was so coarse and his eyes were hollowing into merely two never-ending holes of darkness- pinned Naruto against the wall with his claw. He breathed heavily, as if trying to take in the scent of his prey. Dust gathered around the two, like snakes hissing and trying to strike.

Naruto's blue eyes looked unsure as he wiggled under his grip. "H-hey...um...Gaara....Wha-what's going on?"

Sasuke saw a hint of the green lost in the black voided eyes. The hint of green that belonged to Gaara, and not the monster he was becoming. The hint of green that was frightened. His voice- both Gaara struggling and the monster's- rasped.

"Get away from me!"

The monster struggled, both loosening it's grip and yet tightening at the same time. Gaara was fighting it. He didn't want the thing to kill his only friend. He didn't want to be alone and shunned again. He didn't want to be disgusted at who he was. He wanted to control the thing inside him.

"_I want him...food..._"

"No....no...go away!"

Gaara was knocked aside as Temari jumped in. She ran to the two without hesitation, without fear, and stood in front of Naruto with her arms wide facing Gaara. She called desperately, trying to call her real brother back. "Gaara, you have to fight it!"

The creature shivered and then said in a strangled voice. "I want it..." This time, it was darker, stronger.

Temari knew she was loosing him- her brother. Her legs shook, but she stayed where she was, refusing to let her brother loose another friend. "No. You have to stop."

The thing advanced, and before any one could do anything in launched itself at Naruto. Temari blocked the way, pushing Naruto away.

Naruto's got up from the ground, his blue eyes darted around. He wasn't injured, yet there was blood. Sasuke directed his attention towards the two siblings and he felt a jolt.

The blood was Temari's

It gushed from her hand, as a chunk of her finger was lost. She didn't scream, she only stared in shock at the monster with its mouth filled of her blood. And the thing looked just as shocked as she was. As if the clear look of fear and surprise on his sister's face finally got through to him, the thing disappeared.

Now it was only Gaara.

He backed away. "No...no." He shook his head in fear, not wanting to see any of what he had done. He sunk to the ground and shivered. "What have I done? I-I'm a monster..." He reached out to his sister, as if almost for her help, her comfort. "T-Temari onee-chan..."

"Get away from me!" She shouted, piercing the air with her high-pitched yell. She grabbed her injured finger and shut her eyes and she ran off. Just like any one else would if they had saw Gaara. Running off in fear, like any normal person. Running off in fear, unlike what she was supposed to do; which was to show no hate, no fear, no emotions.

She left Gaara without a comforting word. Without note of how she couldn't feel anything. Without a mention of how her life was only lived for him.

She never even denied that he was a monster.

* * *

Sasuke was at the scene the whole time, and yet he couldn't do anything. It was as if he was invisible the whole time. Frozen in fear the whole time. Fear for his life. Yet when he saw Temari's shocked face, and Gaara's eyes wildly shaking in fear...he felt something stab him. Something that felt like it could've hurt as much as if the thing inside Gaara had clawed him into many pieces.

He walked off with a dark look on his face, not bothering to finish the rest of the day at school. He walked downtown, trying to find Temari. He felt like he needed to. He didn't know why, but he did.

He found her, slumped against an alley wall, looking blankly at the ground. She was shivering with pain from her finger, which was still trailing blood all over. But that wasn't the pain that looked like it hurt the most. She was clutching her chest.

Her heart.

He heard her whisper. "He's a monster. A monster. I hate him. He's ruining my life. It's not fair."

"But I love him. I want him to live. I want to do anything for him."

"What should I do?"

She shut her eyes and yelled in confusion, letting it all out. "What should I do?!"

Sasuke looked down at her. The murkiness overcastting his eyes coming from nostalgia. She let his shadow stretch over her, ignoring him as she was encaged in her own battle staking her heart.

"Indeed, Temari, what should you do?"

Sasuke looked up. They had company. Three shadows emerged, revealing a gang of street kids. The boy in the center with a cigarette hanging from his lip smirked unpleasantly, "Hey, check this out. The person next to you is alive." He was referring to Sasuke.

He signaled them to keep Temari in place so she couldn't move. She didn't struggle as they roughly shoved her, only letting them twist her arms back. Sasuke tried, but failed.

The leader of the group got close into Temari's face, letting his foul breath sink into her. "Don't worry, we just want to repay you." Then, he punched her, his fist filled with anger.

Blood dripped from her nose, but she only looked blankly at the ground. Her spirit wasn't there.

"Bitch! You're going to pay for killing my brother!" Another punched her in the stomach. And more kicked her in the skull. Sasuke was uninjured, but watching her let them hurt her was already enough of a wound. He tried shoving the two that held him back, but it was useless.

Once they were done, they pushed her down. Making her bow to the leader of the group. He looked down with a nasty look of smugness as he said with a sickening polite tone. "I'm going to make a deal with you, since I'm such a damn nice gentlemen." Then he got closer to her. He whispered to her face, but loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Kill your brother, and we leave you alone."

His subordinates joined in with nasty remarks, adding on by shoving and hurting her more. They continued to fight her, hitting her like a punching bag, or a rag doll that stood as lifelessly as it would each time you hit it. They couldn't have enough, enough of the feeling of revenge.

"Stop!" He called. And then they pinned her to the wall and he faced her. "Well? Your decision?"

Sasuke felt the silence to be forever. They finally let him go, letting him hit the ground as he heard Temari's weak whisper.

"Yes."

And they went away laughing in victory. Letting the two hurt in their misery.

Rain poured down on them as Temari's knees gave way and the sunk to the ground. She laid on the cold floor, letting the icy water penetrate her.

She cried, her tears flooding the world.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, okay. I'm very, very, very sorry. I didn't do this on purpose you know, not uploading for this long. It doesn't do me any good either... probably lost a lot of the little fans I have. Haha.**

**And my Internet was down, can you blame me if my mother decided to try washing a wireless rodder with soap? (Yes, I have no clue what was wrong with her that day. I think it's a cleanliness-disorder.)**

**I plan on updating regularly from next-next week on. I've got a Regional violin concert next weekend with a super long rehearsal on Friday night. Keep your fingers crossed for me to get concert master! (Unless, you hope for me to do not well. In which that case, if you do, THAT'S NOT NICE.)**

**Vocab:**

**Onee-chan- Older sister**

**Sorry to all my regular fans! Please keep on reading! And like always, I NEED REVIEWS!!!! PLEASE.**


	17. Sacrifice, Betrayal

**Chapter 17: Sacrifice, Betrayal**

Hands folded under his chin, sitting on a black sofa. Watching. Watching her as sat across from him, as she drowned the last of her tea. Saving

His cloud-night eyes fooled him. He knew it was her, Temari...her name was Temari. But the image that fogged before him wasn't her. No, she- him-, her face- his face... continued to meet his eyes.

_Onii-chan..._

He rubbed his dull-pained forehead. His irritation gave him a headache, he wanted- needed- that echo of memories to leave. Ever since the day the siblings came, he could hear _someone_. Someone that wasn't him, but he knew that voice all too well. Himself.

His younger self- before the day he lost his parents. That pathetic, blind child who was stupid enough to trust, stupid enough to melt himself weak.

It was all proof: he was turning back. All time moved forward but him. Inside, he was morphing into that feeble child he was before.

He gave himself a mental thud- an attempt to escape from teetering between past and present. She was Temari. Temari...Temari...

Itachi.

No. He gripped his fist in silence. If he let rage thunder inside, the blood would make him deaf to her words. The reason of unidentified...yet he thirsted to know why.

Why for everything that happened.

Temari placed the cup on table with a glass-tink. She wrapped the towel around her tighter as her still-wet hair dripped. A ridged shudder ran up her hunched body, yet she didn't notice- she was too busy staring at her lap with eyes lost in the midst of time. Time from an hour ago, when she sunk to the floor in the rain. When Sasuke helped her limp to his apartment after.

And this was now: where he waited for an answer.

"You've heard the story haven't you?"

Sasuke snapped away from his thoughts to look at the defeated girl.

She softly snorted and answered for him, "Of course you have. Everybody has. That's why everybody hates us. Everybody thinks we're monsters."

He let her continue while he silenced his offering thoughts: _You're not compared to someone else I know._

Then an empty laugh slipped from her pale lips, "The sad part is: it's true. My brother...he is a monster."

"When my mother was pregnant with her third child, my father- the town leader- planted her with a experiment. The countries were at war, and this experiment was guaranteed to be a super-weapon. A demon implanted in a human baby that could grow to be a killing machine."

She scoffed darkly, "It worked alright. It could kill. It killed our mother, ate its way right out of her stomach. The thing was so strong, it took over the baby and slaughtered our whole village, and by then it was still hungry so it made it's way to the other towns.

"In the end, the only people left alive from our town was Kankuro, Baki, and I. My father's own masterpiece turned on him.

"Baki was the leader of my father's science lab. He took care of us in a place isolated from the rest of the towns- where no one could see us.

"We kept his birth a secret from him. Before knew, he was like any other little kid. He smiled. He laughed." A shadowed smile haunted her face, "He was shyer than other boys his age, I still remember that. But if you passed by him without knowing his name, you'd think he was anyone else. Anyone normal.

"But all the other towns knew about him already. We kept him inside, away from everybody else. Of course, he wanted to know why. He sneaked out one day early morning."

Her eyes darkened. "God, he scared the crap out of me and Kankuro. We searched all day for him. And then, we found him in the middle of a park. He was crying." She clung to the leather of the sofa. "They ran from him. He wanted to have friends, and their mothers shooed him away. Everyone knew about him, and they ran."

"He didn't even hate them for it. Stupid isn't it? He hated himself. After that, he never went outside again, the thing inside him started acting up, and I had to start hunting for him. Animals, it started small and then the thing grew hungrier.

"It drew the line when Gaara couldn't calm down after feeding off three deer. It took forever to strap him down. Baki said there was no choice but to move back to a town, where I could hunt for humans.

"Gaara was reluctant. He didn't trust himself to hold the thing back. But there was nothing else we could do. Gaara needed to feed on something, and if he didn't, he would grow weak and the thing would take over. But he didn't want to gamble on hurting anyone at school. Hell, he didn't even want to hurt any of the low-key street beggars.

"Stupid. He never even thought about himself for a moment. But we did. We wanted him to live. _I _wanted him to live. Selfish, wasn't I? I loved him. He was human to me. Letting him die wasn't like killing a monster; it was like stabbing my little brother to death."

She closed her eyes. "All this time, Baki was trying to find a way get rid of the thing. We tried over and over again. All of it was useless."

She looked Sasuke in the eye in anger. As if all of it was his fault. "He never asked for this. He hated himself for something that wasn't even his fault, and still, all those people do is treat him like shit- like he's some kind of _thing _incapable to feel anything. You guys- this town- it's like you think he _chose _for this to happen."

The lightning in her eyes flickered. "I should hate you all. For making our lives deeper into hell than it already was meant to be." She laughed quietly, "But I don't. I can't. It's stupid, but I feel sorry for you guys that you have to live with us- even if you don't deserve any sympathy. Do you know who I hate? Do you want to know."

She broke away from Sasuke's gaze to look down into her lap as she whispered.

"Gaara."

Her attempt to laugh her tears away turned her voice shaky and high-pitched as her throat became pinched with swallowed sobs. "Stupid, right? My own brother. I hate my own little brother. What kind of big sister am I? But you don't know...you don't know anything. If my father never created him, I could've been normal, I could've had my very own life. If he wasn't alive, I wouldn't have to kill all these people everyday. Don't you see?" She said in a hoarsely shrill voice, "Every reason I have to hate myself is because of him."

A tear escaped from her eyes and slid from her cheeks down into her lap. "I could just let him die... But I can't. I...I want him to live. I _love _him. He's my baby brother. All this time, I've willingly thrown my feelings away from him. I'd do anything for him. For every second I've lived, I'd succeeded in getting Gaara everything he wants. Except for the very one thing.

"Ending his suffering.

"Can you imagine? Can you not being able to close your eyes for a second, just because this _thing _living inside you could kill everyone you love? It's not your fault, but everyone blames it on you anyway. And you have no one to hate but yourself.

"It's pain every second you live.

"Would you want to live like that?"

Her eyes turned misty.

"Nobody deserves a life like that.

"My purpose to live was to support him my whole life. I threw my feelings for him a long time ago, but why? After all this, why?" She squeezed her eyes shut and bent over from the weight of confusion, unaware that her fingers pulled tightly on her frizzled hair. "Why do I hate him too? It's like I have two thoughts fighting against each other, and it hurts." A cry slip from her lips from just the idea of it. "I want it to go. But it makes me so confused. What am I doing all this for? Love? Or is that just an excuse for my hate?

"Is it all to hide the fact that...I'm a monster too?"

She trembled in a small, delirious laugh. "It's not wrong, you probably all think, to hate him. Because he's a monster. I know that, I do. All the proof has shown right in front of my eyes more than anyone...but still. I could just give into this fight and just say I hate him, because it's right for everyone else....but still...

"I fight back.

"I love him. I hate him and love him both."

"And that's why you're going to kill him?"

She looked up at Sasuke with unsteady eyes.

"I guess so."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

The teacup stood in solitary stillness on the glass lounge table, its reflection of an empty porcelain figure stretched into the shaft of cloudy rain from the window. The rhythmic pattering tapped on glass and walls. Footsteps joined into the rapid drumming, quiet and steady. It made its way from the hall to this living room.

Sasuke, in a new change clothes, finished drying his hair and tossed his towel into the laundry basket. He made his way down the hallway and into the living room. At the doorway, he paused. His muddled gray eyes bored into the cup. Grabbing the damp towel that laid crumpled over the sofa, he took the cup and headed to the kitchen. He passed by the fireplace and stopped.

Stares. Pairs of eyes stared at him. Smiling, laughing, frozen. Pictures in frames, propped in from of the unused hearth. He stood still with his back facing the large window of foggy storm. His shadow reached out to the picture, so that there was a black silhouette filling the negative space in photograph of his family. Filling in the place where he was supposed to belong, the part that was ripped out.

He walked closer, entranced by the joyful faces...

Flashback.

_"Onii-chan! Wanna see my new ninja? Look! Look!" Sasuke ran to the door as soon as he heard his okaa-san's welcome._

_"Sasuke-kun, Itachi's busy with his homework. Maybe he can play with you some other time." His oka-chan smiled._

_Sasuke pouted and turned his back away with his arms folded. "Onii-chan's always busy. He never plays with me!" _

_His onii-chan finished taking off his shoes and looked down at him with a smile. "Sorry Sasuke," His hand came close to his forehead, as if about to mess his hair, but instead, he flicked him. "Maybe another time."_

_Sasuke backed away. "Why do you always have to do that?"_

_His onii-chan smiled with a faint tease. "Why not? It's a fun game, and I get to win." _

_"How come I never get win?" Sasuke whined. Why did he always have to act so much better?_

_"Because I'm older and I know more."_

_Sasuke gave his statement some thought and then declared as his onii-chan walked away. "Then someday, I'm gonna learn so much that I'll know more things than you win! Just you wait!"_

_His onii-chan paused. Sasuke heard him whisper something, he didn't hear him clearly, but he could've sworn he said:_

_"Hopefully that day won't happen."_

Flashback.

His finger came closer to the glass, it overcastted a the young man with the ponytail in the picture that had a striking resemblance to Sasuke...

He flicked the still man on the forehead.

"I win." He said quietly.

A sudden knock drew him away from the photo. Sasuke stared at the door went over to find who intruded his thoughts.

Neji stood patiently with his school briefcase tucked under his arm.

Sasuke silently swore. _I told him to come for the assignment, but now?_ He disguised his flustered thoughts after the day-daze. If anyone figured it out, it would show even more that the little boy grows stronger.

Neji continued to meet his eyes in silence. Sasuke knew he expected him to invite him inside; he had no choice but to.

"I finished my part of the essay, so I guess we should start working on the visuals." Neji headed towards the living room. Sasuke was about to follow him, but found himself stuck from the eyes of the remnants of his family.

Sasuke caught himself and gave himself a self-reminder that Neji was with him. By then, it was too late; Neji had noticed him staring at the pictures, particularly the one of the young man with the black ponytail and unusually warm black-flame eyes. The picture of the man Neji knew as Uchiha Itachi.

Neji cleared his throat, although it did nothing to take away the uncomfortable air. "Ahem...My uncle, when I was younger, told me about the town leader family before us...the Uchihas...yours..."

Sasuke maintained a calm composure, despite his squirming thoughts. He said in a quiet yet resilient voice that rung warning, "You're not here to tell me stories about my own family." He walked towards the door, about to show him the way out.

Neji held his ground. "I know, you've probably heard a lot of the same crap over and over again. But," His fog-steel eyes met Sasuke's guarded-black. "my uncle told me something that you've never heard yet. The truth."

Sasuke's eyes blazed with surprise and thirst.

Neji looked at the photographs of the deceased town leader family. "The countries were at war when we were younger, we all knew that. But our town carried the burden of fighting two wars: one with the enemy countries and one right inside our very own borders.

"The Konoha had many clans, and with the war raging, all of them wanted to be the leading clan of the village. The Uchihas always proved to be the stronger clan. They were the clan that had led the town for decades, and the title of town leader had been passed down generation to generation in the same family."

Neji looked back at Sasuke. "That would be yours.

"At the time, your father led the village. His heir was already decided, and everyone agreed that he had chosen well, as well as raised a great son. Uchiha Itachi, a genius."

Sasuke was unamused, "If this is the truth, I've heard the truth one too many times."

Neji ignored him. "Your parents had to make sure Itachi was the best at anything and everything. They hired a tutor. At the time, it was the president of the Konoha's lab of science and technology of weapons, for the war."

Sasuke remembered the tutor. He also recalled the snake-like feeling he felt when he looked at him.

"It worked. At eight, Itachi was already outsmarting kids two times older than him."

Then, Neji's eyes clouded. "But the truth was, he didn't teach Itachi anything.

"Hiring that man was what backfired.

"Before Itachi met that man, he was average. He constantly was pressured by his parents to be perfect, and still was when he made that deal."

"What deal?" Sasuke's eyes turned even darker.

"After meeting that man, Itachi suddenly turned perfect- a genius. Your parents believed it was because of training, but really, it was just pills. The man gave Itachi pills to get what he wanted, and Itachi took them thinking that it would stop his parent's pressuring.

"But there was a price.

"He had to be part of his experiment. A project that was supposed to bring glory to the village, but that was just a disguise to hide his real motive: becoming town leader and killing the Uchihas.

"Itachi knew about the catch. He would become his parent's dream child, and in return his DNA would be altered. He would still be human, but at the same time, he held the thoughts of a killing-machine. The mutation caused a thirst to kill anyone near him, a temptation he had to hold back. He had to maintain strength to control the thing so that no one innocent was hurt. All this he started doing at ten, unbeknownst to your family and about when you were just born.

"At 14, the man added another deal to continue taking the pills. Itachi had to make a choice."

Neji looked away.

"It took four years, and eventually he had to choose.

"He chose to kill his family with his own hands."

"It's all the same. In the end, he was nothing but a weakling who cared for nothing but his own life. And eventually, he even realized he wasn't strong enough to live anymore and ended his life himself." Sasuke said angrily, his fists tightened by his side.

It was true. The new information didn't make any difference. All this time, he wanted a fact that could prove his brother to be the strong idol he once believed him to be. Instead, it proved Itachi a backstabber even more. And it proved him cruel. Cruel enough to kill everyone Sasuke knew and left him alive to suffer alone.

"He had another choice. He could've suffered alone, instead of selfishly trying to end his pain by bringing it to his very own family. He could've sacrificed." Sasuke's voice was cold with fury.

Neji stared at Sasuke. "Itachi's other choice was to walk away free and have his DNA returned to normal...

"Instead, he would let him have your DNA altered the same way his did."

Sasuke's eyes widened.

"His second choice wasn't to sacrifice his life,

"it was to sacrafice yours."

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As rain fabricated its own translucent cloth, it draped over a single figure. The shattering of misty-white droplets outlined the shadow, with the gray storm of heavy rainfall behind him. Thunder pounded on the unseen layer of calm atmosphere seconds before lightning seared with a hot flash behind an insolated, traditional Japanese house.

The shadow pulled the door to the fence; it opened with an ancient moan. He walked closer to the towering building and the fog of the rain swallowed him into invisibility.

Under the porch, protected from water, Sasuke took the hood of his soaked jacket off his head. He looked at the placemat and the elegant wood of the door; they were all coated with thick dust. His mother had spent everyday housekeeping, cleaning the floors and making sure everything was clean. It was all useless in the end.

The moment he entered inside, the flowery scent that his mother always used rushed to him. But this time, it was mixed in with a smell that was even more familiar to him: blood.

His footsteps echoed as he wandered around his past life. Everything was left nearly untouched, almost so that he could fool himself into thinking that in any moment, he could see his mother in the kitchen to ask how his day was...

But he didn't. Instead, he ignored the main rooms and headed down the long hallway where his bedroom used to be. His eyes disobeyed him and snuck look in his parents' room, left open and with the floor still stained with dulled crimson. He forced himself to move on, until he reached the last room on the right- the only room left shut.

Flashback.

_"Onii-chan...is that you?" Sasuke whispered. His small voice wavered in the night shadows. He felt a splash of water on his hand, spilled from the glass he held in his shaking hands. In the darkness, even a place as familiar as the hallway seemed frightening. _

_The figure in front of him knelt down. "Yes. Sasuke, what are you doing here?"_

_It was his onii-chan! But, there was something wired about him... But that didn't matter, just knowing that his onii-chan was close to him made him feel safer. He hugged him. "Onii-chan...is it...is it okay if I sleep in your room tonight?" After seeing all the shadows, he was too scared to sleep alone._

_He felt his onii-chan's grip tighten. "Ow...onii-chan, you're squeezing too hard..." _

_His onii-chan drew away quickly and he felt him force a tight, but sad, smile. "Sorry Sasuke...but you must never enter my room."_

_"Why not?" Sasuke asked._

_As his onii-chan walked away, a shaft of moonlight caught his body. He opened his door and looked back._

_His eyes flashed blood red and his veins pulsed and writhed under ghost-white skin. His onii-chan was sweating; as if something was choking him...something was killing him. _

_"Because its the room of a demon."_

End of Flashback.

Sasuke clutched the doorknob and pushed.

For the first time in his life, he was in his brother's room.

The bed was ripped, walls clawed...nearly everything seemed to prove there was an uncontrolled animal encaged inside.

Odd, how destroyed everything looked. Sasuke knew it was Itachi and his altered DNA acting up, however...he must have used all the strength he could to hide his secret.

Sasuke stepped over the scattered papers and over to the splintered desk. Pills were dispersed over the musty wood, along with more useless papers that were once confidential.

There was nothing else.

What was he here for anyway? Why did it matter what his brother did in his room? He lived all his life hating his brother, lived all his life blaming him as a traitor, a coward. Now, everything was different. He didn't want it to change.

Or did he?

Because if he did wanted everything to stay the same, why was he here? Why was he here trying to find proof...proof that his brother truly loved him?

As he dug through all the junk, he grew more confused. How come he never knew this much about him? He always thought he knew everything there was to know about him...but now...

He had no clue who Itachi was.

Sasuke kicked the desk in frustration. The drawer fell out to reveal a tattered notebook. He eagerly picked it up, but was only disappointed to find a page of scribbles. Photographs fell out. Unlike the rest of the items in the room, they were delicately kept in tact.

They were pictures of Sasuke, his family.

He looked down at the single sheet of notebook paper in his hand. They weren't scribbles; they were words. Small and unaligned.

_Dear Sasuke,_

But the letter stopped there, messy with spilled tears. He looked closer at the smudged ink, there was more. Yet as he read more, he realized there were only repeated sentences, scribbled crazily all over the place.

_I love. I hate. I love. I hate. Hate. Love. Hate...Love..._

_I am..._

_Traitor. Protector. Traitor. Protector..._

Flashback.

_"Okaa-san! Oto-san! I'm home!" Sasuke bursted through the door with a gleeful smile. His onii-chan managed to convince his parents to allow him to go to a friend's birthday party._

_"Hello?" The smile on his face slowly lost itself to a quivering lip from fear. The shadows in the house started to look like they were reaching out to grab him. Why was everything so dark? _

_When he thought about it, the whole clan neighborhood seemed so empty..._

_He ran through the rooms, slamming all the doors into the walls. He didn't care anymore that he was damaging the walls, he just wanted to find someone to hold on to. Someone to save him from all his fears._

_"Okaa-san! Oto-san! Where are you?-" He stopped halfway in his scream._

_He froze. His blood seemed to drain away and his body went numb. He looked down and saw the blood pooled beneath him. Slowly, he looked in front of him._

_There were bodies. Two bodies._

_There was a woman. And there was a man. They didn't seem human, without any blood, pale skin, and their mouths opened wide._

_Then, it all registered._

_Those were his parents._

_Yet before he could scream, he saw the shadow. He saw red eyes, gleaming at him. A demon's eyes._

_His very own onii-chan's eyes._

_"Why? Why?" His whispers grew into shrieks. "WHY?!!" _

_He fell to the ground. It hurt to breath, his chest ached. _

_"Because I hated living in this family. I hated these people who've turned my life into this...Sasuke, you knew nothing about me. I pretended to be the brother you wanted...You should hate me."_

_Sasuke trembled. He did, he did. He wanted to kill him, but he was too scared...and that made him hate this man even more._

_"You should hate me even more for this...but even so, I hope the life I have given you..._

_"Will be nothing like mine."_

_The man smiled sadly, crying tears and blood through scarlet eyes. He gave him one last familiar look; the one his onii-chan once gave to him to comfort him. _

_"I'm sorry, Sasuke...I can't, take this..."_

_More blood._

_And then, he was alone._

End of Flashback.

All of what he said that day, all this time he had interpreted wrong. Or did he?

Because of Itachi, he was here.

Because of Itachi, he wasn't living in the hell he should've.

Because of Itachi, he was lost.

Sasuke clutched his head. The anger surged through him..

He shredded in the photographs in anger as the storm went on.

But when the ray of low sun began to seep onto the wood and the clouds cleared away, Sasuke was still lost in his storm. Storm of angry memories.

Now, he was left panting from exhaust in his anger. He felt the dampness on his face, from rain, sweat...escaped tears. All the photos were shredded in pieces around him.

But when sunk to his knees, and his head dropped to the floor...

He saw that the two pieces of the photograph of him and his brother had somehow found their way together to make a whole.

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"Ne...Uchiha-kun...hello?" Curious green eyes came into view.

He blinked, unlike the other times, he didn't back away. There was no heat in his face. It was all cold. Dead. Seconds felt eternity.

And unlike other times, Sakura left him in silence. Instead, she drew her knees in and looked up at the visible moon. "Living seems too long when everything is sad...isn't it?" She whispered.

This shattered the cage of heavy air around Sasuke. He looked at the girl gazing up at the stars. Suddenly, it came to him that he didn't know who she was either. How did she seem to know so much? Or was it all but a coincidence?

Yet she comforted him all the same. There was an air of familiarity about her, and that was what Sasuke needed. Something he knew. Something to hold on to during all the confusion.

He cleared his throat. "There, was a story I heard..." He lied.

Sakura faced him; she wiggled in place and smiled. "I like story-times."

He drew in a silent breath and began. "There were two brothers and the younger brother looked up to his older brother a lot. But the older brother was forced to make a choice from another guy. He had to choose between killing his family, or letting his younger brother suffer for the rest of his life while he himself would walk free.

"He spent years trying to choose which one was right and chose to kill his family. He didn't know which reason was the one to why he chose this path. It was either he was betraying his family because if it wasn't for their pressure, he would've had a normal life. Or it was because he was willing to sacrifice into suffering under guilt to save his brother.

"So," He dared himself to ask, "was he good, or was he bad?"

Sakura's knowing green eyes met his, and she didn't waver.

"Neither. He sounded like someone who needed help."

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"Today we tried one last time to change Gaara back."

Sasuke stared at the pale figure under the moonlight as she gazed in his direction with aimless green eyes.

"It was the last cure Baki hadn't tried...the only one left. He had been researching on it for months, and today was the day we would use it on Gaara..."

"It didn't work."

Her lips quivered, "And when...when Gaara realized that he was still the same...he cried...Can you imagine that? For the first time since that day at the park, he cried...and it hurt so much just to watch him...isn't that funny? How it wasn't even me who was being tortured, but it made me want to cry all the same?" She laughed to hide a sob and her voice fell to a quiet voice. "He looked at me...and his eyes...

"They made me want to die...they were in so much pain...it hurt just to watch. And do you know what he said? Do you want to know?" She looked at him with shuddering eyes. She whispered;

"'Kill me'..."

She fell to the ground and rambled to herself in a low murmur. "Did I do it? Did I make the right choice? Am I saving him? Am I sacrificing my love for him to end his hurt? Or is that my excuse for my betraying him? Who am I? Am I doing good or bad? Will...will he hate me for this?"

Sasuke's shadow overcastted her face. She became aware of his presence and looked up at him.

"Will he hate me?" She pleaded.

Sasuke avoided her unsettled expression. He planned to stay silent, but instead, words found their way out of him. "My older brother, he had to make a choice like yours when I was eight..." He looked up at the large moon, almost the size it was that very night. "Because of him, I am the last survivor of my family."

"Do you hate him for it?" She begged, desperate for an answer.

And yet in this day filled of lies, truth slipped from Sasuke's mouth.

"I'm not sure."

* * *

**A/N: How are you finding the story? Next chapter will be the finale of this arc! *Guess who comes next*!!! Oh, and now that you've got three of the story arcs, which one's your fav now? Thanks to all who've been reading!!!!**

**Okay, sorry about the lie. I'm still trying to get back on schedule. But it's an improvement, right? I've finished with (nearly) all my competitions. Next is Mathcounts States and then Tri-state violin!**

**I don't think I had any new vocab.**

**THANK YOU THANK YOU for reading my weee-itty-bitty-amateur fanfic! It means a lot! Because tonight my parents are at a card-party, I'll have an excuse to spend hours writing my brains out!!!!! REVIEW!!!!**


	18. Heartless Traitor, Forgiven Sister

**Chapter 18: Heartless Traitor, Forgiven Sister**

A gruff bartender wiped the counter as he suspiciously eyed the group of teenagers conversing quietly at the dim corner of his empty bar.

Sasuke was among the group. He sat by Temari, facing the street gang of teenagers from the day before.

The gang she made the deal with- to kill her brother.

The sunset glint that seeped through the dusty windows glared in his eyes, but he ignored it. As did Temari. The sun seemed to loose its light when they found her eyes- nothing could light the dark thoughts that haunted inside. She noticed nothing; instead, she stared at her lap.

The shame and dread she felt sunk into his body, and felt as if it resided there.

Was this how Itachi felt? This agony and guilt? Did he hate himself this much too?

"We've got ourselves a deal then, don't we Temari?" The boy opposing her grinned wolfishly as he took a swig of beer, almost like a predator. His smugness told that there was no choice but to agree.

And Temari knew this all too well.

"Then it's tonight. You sneak us into your place." He said in a lazy tone.

Sasuke felt an urge to hurt him, but his common sense warned him it was unwise. Instead, he kept his anger stuck in his throat as he clenched his teeth at the carelessness of the guy's tone. It was as if he didn't care that he was the breaking apart lives.

Like Temari and Gaara.

Him and Itachi.

"I know." She replied, empty.

"Then it's done." He and his gang got up to leave the dingy bar.

Temari continued to bear the weight of her hatred, with Sasuke wordless beside her. Their one-ended discussion had ripped her apart, each second by second- until by 12 minutes- 720 seconds- later...there was nothing left put pieces. Disjointed, pieces. Individually lost and unable to place together again.

The vast cracks left showed in her eyes. She was so used to the pain, that it was dull now- it showed in her eyes, now gray and drained of color from loss of sleep. Loss of freedom.

And when she was left with more words from a cruel chuckle of her tormentor, her eyes flickered. And the pieces that could not possibly seem to be broken apart any smaller tore even more.

"Hey, cheer up. At least a bitch like you is finally doing some good to the world. Even if you are such a bitch to kill your own brother."

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The Hunter's moon suspended over dense-ink outlines of an isolated forest. Shadows were conspicuous under the illumed field, blacker than the late-night sky that glowed with a tinge of mystify-blue from the radiating cerulean lining the contours of the moon. Under the presence cold fire from the sky, nothing could be hidden- only overexposed.

It was the perfect night for hunting- a perfect time for death.

And that was what the shadows were planning- the shadows framed by the window of an isolated house, where the only sound that could be heard was the wood creaking under the wisps of sighing wind.

"Hey, witch." The shadow that peered out of the window- waiting for someone- turned around to face the withdrawn girl behind him. She avoided his triumphant grin when she noticed the gun in his hand that was outstretched to her.

"I suppose that since this is your place, and you did lead us here: I'll let you do the honors." His cocky smile grew even wider.

"You can end your brother's life."

She tried not to flinch, but the snap in her eyes was obvious. The gang member gave a satisfied smile at her discomfort. Still, she refused to look at his face. Instead, she gripped her school skirt tighter.

Sasuke stood in front of her, blocking her from the creeping smile he was giving her. His eyes showed a dull fire that warned him to stop.

Instead, the boy continued with a smirk. "What's wrong? You were the one to agree, weren't you? So, what's better than getting rid of you problem with your own hands? Cuz' that's what he is, right? Just a monster, a nuisance in your life that gets in the way of everything."

Temari bit her lip. Sasuke noticed the uncertainty in her eyes, frustrated. Why couldn't she yell, stand up for herself in that cold demeanor he once met her in: why couldn't she tell that that he was wrong? All of it was a mistake. That she cared about her brother, and would never want to hurt him.

But she couldn't. All of it was true.

She took the gun.

He held back his urge to shake her, rattle her empty body to help her uncover the personality she'd lost to guilt. He wanted to call her heartless; a traitor for doing all this. And yet he couldn't…he'd seen all she'd been through. Although he hated to admit it:

He might've done the same in her position.

Would that make him a traitor too?

Was this how Itachi felt?

The door made a clicking sound. All eyes stared at the knob as it slowly turned. And then, it creaked open. The small sliver of moonlight that bled into the dark room waxed into a crescendo of white.

A footstep. A shadow from outside, contrasted against the purity of the light…with the moon behind him, the figure seemed so black, so dark- so wrathful.

But it was a human. A boy.

Locked inside him was a demon, a killer. Something so large portraying as a shadow of someone so innocent. Innocent like a teenager. Like any teenager you could see any day. Like the one that passed by you, or the one that just sat in front of you…

Any teenager.

Wasn't that so close to being Sasuke?

Sasuke, as his thoughts collided with one another. As one side of him wanted to yell out to the shadow. Warn him to escape his death. That side of him kept his body stiff, like a stone statue- for statues could not run in fear from the pain they were about to see.

He knew this boy- monster, could heartlessly kill. It could end his life- among others- in seconds.

Then why? Why was that younger voice screaming? What were those words that shrieked inside him?

The dim light flickered on. Temari's fright became exposed- she could no longer hide it with darkness. Sasuke could see how violently she shuddered as held the handgun.

The sleek barrel trembled unsteadily as it pointed straight towards Gaara.

His deep green eyes looked into hers, as if she was the only one in the room. And her look quickly registered as his shocked face broke into pain. "Temari-onee-san."

Kankuro quickly came from behind, "What the- Temari, what's going on?" He took a step towards her.

"Back off demon-slave. You're in no place to talk right now." One of the gang members knocked him back and pinned him down.

"Temari, what's the meaning of this?" Baki came in, struggling against three members who tried to hold him back.

"Temari?"

"Temari?"

Sasuke could tell that hearing her name stung. That name brought too many horrors of betrayal. That name didn't deserve to be said through any person's lips. And so, her voice pierced the air.

"Don't come any closer!"

Everything fell silent. And then, it was just two siblings. Two siblings standing, facing each other…turned against one another after all the pain.

"Temari-onee-san…" Gaara's voice seemed to understand what was going on. He knew he was betrayed, and yet his voice harbored no anger, only sympathy for his sister.

"Stay back!" She shouted, her voice delirious.

He took another step closer, but flinched when she repeated herself even louder and more high-pitched. When Gaara realized he couldn't calm his older sister, he did the only thing he thought would.

In a quiet voice, he said. "Go ahead. Do it."

Kankuro's eyes widened as he looked at his sister and then his younger brother. "You're…you're not kidding are you, Temari?" He asked shakily, more to himself than anyone else. Then, his eyes went to Temari as he yelled and struggled. "Is this a joke?! How could you be doing this now!? Weren't you the one who promised to protect Gaara no matter what?! Are you just going to ignore everything we worked for?! Do you even get what you're doing?!"

"You're going to kill your own brother! What kind of person are you?!"

Temari didn't blanch; she had asked herself this question too many times before. Instead, she replied in a shaky voice, "What kind of person am I?" She took a slow, shuddery breath, "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore."

"Then what the hell are you doing?!"

Gaara ignored his furious older brother returned Temari's shaky gaze. "You're having all these feelings because of me. I'm sorry. If nothing else will ease you, kill me."

"Urusai!" She shut her eyes and screamed. "Why are you apologizing?" she whispered. "You," The gun in her hand wavered towards him, "you are supposed to be a monster. You aren't supposed to care…I could easily kill you then right?" She gave a hysterical laugh. "But…I'm hesitating…why am I hesitating? Who are you to me?"

Capsules of pure evil were easy to kill. However, those who showed even the slightest bit of humanity were not.

"Who is he to you?! He's your goddamned brother Temari!" Kankuro shouted.

"I know." She steadied herself and started to breath normally again.

"Then why." Kankuro's voice fell to nothing but a hoarse breath of confusion.

"Because he's also the one who took everything I could've had."

Temari looked at Baki, who lost the rigid, unforgiving expression on his face when she spoke her words.

"He took my mother away from me. He killed my father. He took any chance I had of having a friend away from me. Because of him, I have to live hating myself for everything I've done." She took a deep, shaky breath and started again. Somehow, her eyes found more tears inside of her to cry, although the hours before should've dried her of any left. "I was born the same ways as others. I could've been normal like everyone else. But why me? It's so unfair…"

She turned to Gaara. "I've always wondered…what if you weren't alive? Would I be happy? What if you never existed in my life? But," she closed her eyes, "that only made myself hate me more. Because it was too late, I already met you…Is it still your fault? For having your fate in mine?"

She breathed in a deep, shuddery breath, "Do you hate me? For blaming you? For wanting to kill you?" Tears began welling up her eyes, streaking down her face- down the familiarity of her sunken cheeks.

"Do you see how confused I am? My head spins so much." She hiccupped. Her brother's face- although blurred through the tears- made the tears spill more. "I don't want you to hate me. But- but I don't even know why I care. You ruined my life and everything, but I still want you to love me."

She sunk to the ground, her arms still frozen- gun still pointed at Gaara-, trembling…trying to pull them away from him, yet wanting to stay still as a threat of death. Her cries were loud, the tears dripped down her chin, soaking her skirt.

"Get up."

Temari looked up at her younger brother, who stood stone-still as always.

"Get up." He repeated, "Having second-thoughts for anything is useless. Especially you, Temari-onee-san, you've always told me not to regret being alive. You said, that what was done was done, and all we could do was make the best we could out of it. Regretting my birth was useless, I could never take it back anyway." He looked his older sister in the eyes, trying to seek out the lost girl inside her. "Do what you think is right. Go by what you truly think is right. So stand back up."

With slow, wobbly movements, Temari stood. Her eyes nostalgic, homesick…she spoke softly, "That's right, you can't cry…I remember that. If you could…would you be right now?"

"You said once…" She whispered, "that you wanted to die. That everything hurt too much, and it wouldn't go away."

"I can end it for you, Gaara."

"I can end it for both of us."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Her voice trailed higher.

"Isn't it?"

Her finger closed in on the trigger, slowly pressing down.

And then the shot rang out.

Blood dripped. Through fogged eyes, Temari could see the red. Red, smudged into her vision of the wall, where a hole was torn from her bullet. Red, smudged by the haze in her eyes.

Red, from her body, pooling under her feet.

And then the pain came.

Sasuke heard Temari's gasp. He too, was frozen from the face he was looking at.

And that was Gaara's shocked face- still living…

But horrified.

The pale green eyes behind black eye-lining…they were unsteady like never before. Sasuke had never seen Gaara so…

Terrified.

But then he saw what the boy saw through the reflection in his eyes.

And that was Temari with spilled blood from her chest…dripping from a dagger that shone in the moonlight, that gleamed of deceit.

"Did you think I could let you take him after all everyone he's killed? Did you think I could let you get away?" The gang member whispered in her ear from behind. "In the end…I'm the one that gets revenge…"

Sasuke pushed the shadows blocking his way, trying to make his way towards Temari from the back of the room. At his movements, the air that was frozen only a few seconds ago churned and exploded with emotions.

"Kisama! Let go of her!" The rage gave Baki enough strength to knock his captors away.

The silhouette behind Temari gave a bark of laughter. "It's useless old man. There's no way you guys are gonna get out alive."

Baki stopped his movement and froze at the click of a gun that he saw was pointed at the side of his head.

The shadow looked up at the ceiling, intoxicated with vengeance and laughed.

Temari collapsed, the blood beneath her expanding and slithering farther…liquid snakes of scarlet.

The boy did nothing to help. Instead, he kicked her, each blow getting harder and harder when he fed off more hatred.

"Yamero! At this rate, she'll die!" Kankuro shouted, still being held back.

"What? You think she can feel this?" He kicked her in the chest. "She has nothing in there. Get that? Nothing! Both her and that thing she protects." He glared at Gaara, eyes constricted of disgust. "They're not human. They kill without mercy, without sympathy."

"Nothing beats inside both of them. Their heartless."

"Shit, shit, shit!" Kankuro shivered, his body rattled uncontrollably in fear from seeing the blood of his sister- the sister who never showed weakness. "Someone do something…Let go of me!!" He thrashed, but his strength wasn't enough.

In the core of the chaos, Gaara sunk to the ground. His eyes could find nowhere to look- not at the triumphant sneers of his killers, not at his frightened brother…not at his dying sister- and shook, trying to find a place where the view would not give him pain. He covered his ears with his arms over his head.

"Te-Temari…onee-san…"

"Heartless…heartless…I'm…" He rasped, the voice growing deeper, more power-hungry. Something inside fought to be shown, winning, for Gaara was too weak with shame to fight. "Why? Why? Why?!" He screamed in remorse.

Sasuke felt a blast of hot air, and the air began to grow heavy with danger. He noticed grains of sand beginning to form at Gaara's feet, condensing to form a shield. He's throat clogged with fear when he saw the humanity in Gaara's eyes turn black and hollow, like a demon's.

What was once a boy shivering in fear was now a demon of anger.

And when it howled, Sasuke wanted to run.

He wanted to save himself, leave everything behind so he could live.

_Run…_

_Run!!_

The voice inside him screamed dread.

But he stood.

With the sand tail of the demon starting to grow and slam into anything in sight, with the gang members yelling in confusion, with Baki and Kankuro trying to calm Gaara down…

He chose to carry Temari away from her brother who was blinded by fury.

"Get up. You have to get up." Sasuke urged her. He knew she was still alive. She had to be. If she died…

She wasn't supposed to die.

Brother and sister…

They were supposed to end up alive. Happy.

Not like him and his brother.

A blast of hot sand lashed across his face like a serpent of splintered glass. Sasuke could feel the mark it left- red with anger against his skin as the blow knocked him away from the still girl. Instead of inspecting the wound, he scrambled on his knees, making his way back towards her.

Kankuro swept by, snatching the pocketknife at Temari's side. He stood in front of Sasuke, his back turn to him, facing the thing that was no longer Gaara.

"Get up! Temari! You have to get up!" Kankuro managed a narrow dodge from a rush of sand. "You have to get out of here."

But his shout was useless. Temari was still unconscious as she laid on her side, unaware of the sandstorm and the roar of noise.

"Wake up!" Kankuro tried again. He continued trying to fight the monster, but was tiring quickly as the monster clawed and snapped without exhaust. Sasuke could see that he was losing energy to dodge, and tried blocking the large paw of the animal up front, only to be knocked back and skid into the wall. The impact made a loud crack that Sasuke couldn't tell was from the breaking of Kankuro's bones or the wood.

The dust cleared from the collision, and Sasuke tried looking away from the older boy. The sight of him made his stomach twist. His arm was ripped so severely that the sickly white of bone could show under the flesh that was left. Mud-red caked over his hair, and dribbled down his forehead. Kankuro could barely stand, his leg wobbly from his strained muscles.

Sasuke looked at him. Were his eyes wide with surprise? He knew it was going to happen, yet…he still stared at the boy.

Kankuro planned to hold the demon back until Temari woke up.

"Hey you, kid."

Sasuke turned at the hoarse voice. Turned to look Kankuro in his bruised eyes. Solemn and determined.

"Make sure she gets out. Make sure they both do."

Sasuke felt himself give a small nod back.

And then a paw whirred into Kankuro, pinning him back into the wall.

The blow killed him instantly. Blood splattering, a pulse-stilling scream…

The first sight Temari saw when her eyes finally opened.

The demon pounded on its pray- Gaara's brother. Drool dribbled from its fangs as it breathed into Kankuro's face. Closer to flesh…closer to death…

Yellow eyes flashed with excitement, lust as it lunged-

But stopped.

Suddenly, green glowed. Humanity, guilt, sorrow…

Glowed.

Paws over head, swinging its head as if trying to regain control. Shaking in fright and remorse. It howled at its lost, its cruelty, its existence.

And for a moment, Sasuke thought he saw a young boy again. A boy that was lost, crushed by a burden too large for him.

"_Make it stop…"_

But when he blinked, it was still a monster in front of him.

He felt something tremble wildly near him. Temari.

"Kankuro…he's gone…gone…She whispered. Her pupils dilapidated. Then she stilled, as if something faded away inside her. Something abandoned her to turn her alone…small.

Another tsunami of sand conjured at the demon's paws, crashing down on Temari.

Sasuke bent over the girl, his shadow casting over her clouded face.

Then the pain came. His back scorched with heat, like thunder jolting endlessly on his skin. He gritted, beads of sweat formed on his brow…Unbearable…it was torturous, seconds seemed like days as the sand continued to crash and beat down onto his back.

Watching Temari, the light dead in her eyes as they simply stared blankly into space, he still held his ground…still took the anguish for her.

_I don't even know if she's alive…_

_Why am I doing this?_

An arm bent over from the strain, and the pressure of the sand brought him closer to the ground. He clenched his teeth. His body no longer felt like his own, his back numb from heat and scars.

"Holy shit!" Sasuke could faintly hear someone say, the squeak muffled by the roar of the sand slamming into him. "We've gotta get out of here before we all die!"

But before they could run, he heard clear screams of pain.

"My arm!!! My arm!!!"

"Someone help me!!"

Sasuke closed his eyes, trying to wipe away the images of the teenagers having their body ripped into shreds. Blood splattered from their broken limbs…flesh dangling from their bones…

"Can you hear it?"

He opened his eyes, looked at the girl. Nothing moving but the slight part of her lips.

"Can you hear the loneliness?" She asked in a soft, monotone voice. "It hurts to hear him."

He never noticed the sand stop, never noticed the burning end. Her words punctured him with realization.

He couldn't hear the suffering in the howl. He couldn't sense the abandonment. He couldn't hear what she did. But he understood.

He understood that she hated herself. She sacrificed a simple life, a life she could've had, for a road of guilt and burden…all for someone she loved. Someone she wanted to cleanse sin and hurt from his life. Someone she wanted to see smile without worry, never understand tears, never hear of hate.

All for that someone, she would suffer the pain of two.

So she could live with him.

Gaara.

And once and a while, she became human, and wanted something. Once and a while, she hated him for making her make the choice she did. And at that, she thought she was heartless, a traitor…

But it was out of love.

This is what she felt.

This is what he felt.

Itachi.

"If I die…all of it will go away, right?" Her fingers reached slowly to reclaim the knife Kankuro had took from her and dropped.

"If I die…to me…it'll be like I never killed Kankuro…to me, it'll be like I never lived…" She pointed the knife down to her throat. "This knife…it has cut so many people so easily…could I cut myself as easily?…Could I avenge everyone…make everyone forgive me with this?…Will you forgive me, Gaara?" She slowly turned her head sideways to look at the thrashing beast. "Can you forgive me for not being strong enough?…Because it hurts too much to hear my heartbeat anymore…sorry…"

She pushed the blade down.

Blood spread, dripped on her face. Blood trickled from a hand where the blade punctured cleanly through, the hand that came inches above her throat, saving her from death- Sasuke's hand.

"You can't die." The words spilled from him as he held back a gasp the sharp pang from his hand. He breathed, seeing her eyes shocked, looking into his fiery grays.

"You can't die!" He said louder, unsure if she heard as she laid still, looking up at him with wide eyes- awakened.

"You can't die…because," He choked back the pain of- not his wounds- but his replaying memories. "Because he needs you."

"Everything you've worked for…for him to live without sorrow…It'll all be useless if you leave! If, if you go right now, he, he'll feel lost and alone…"

He could hear himself. _Have I ever spoke this much before? Have I ever been this loud?_

He shut his eyes, "Don't you get it? You're the only one that can save him!"

From there, everything in Sasuke's vision became. He remembered seeing her slowly stand, and with unsteady feet, stumble to a place that was familiar…a place where she could find herself again- home…

Gaara.

Step by painful step…past everything that was once hers shattered around her.

His eyes hurt, the air was in flames… the heat unbearable, his skin crackling dry. The wind sliced his flesh, and whirred a storm of stained sand. He felt torture.

_This is what I could've been._

_**You saved me from this?**_

_This is what you tried you avoid all along._

_**Was this your secret?**_

_This is how you felt…the guilt of being a creature of hatred…_

_**Did it hurt?**_

_This is what you endured for me…_

_**Were you crying because me…those times?**_

_It took me a while…but…_

_Thanks._

_Itachi_

_**Onii-chan.**_

Her arms wrapped around his sand covered body, his internally broken body. Its tail whipped her, and the sand stung her, cutting her skin red, beating at her frail body. But she held on. She closed her eyes, and found the will to smile, as if the wounds did not exist.

"It's okay Gaara…Daijoubu…"

Suddenly, wind stopped. Air turned cool again, sky was visible. Calm. Clear. Bodies. Blood. Knifes.

And in the middle, a young boy and his sister. Gaara in Temari's arms. Her hand on his head, pushing him close to her chest, as if holding any less tight would cause her to lose him.

With green eyes innocently wide, he looked up at her and spoke with surprise.

"Temari onee-san."

"I can hear our hearts beating."

* * *

A/N: I personally had a hard time writing this arc. I think you all can tell, since I took over a month to write this. But now that I've finished, I feel pumped!!! WHOO!! Did you all like the ending? A happy ending in a sad sort of way I hope...

Hey look! Finally a breakthrough from my laziness. I could use the fact that I had a switch of computers as an excuse…but I won't. Yes, I am very lazy. I bow down to all my fans now and beg for all of your forgiveness.

Vocab:

Onee-san: Older sister

Yamero: Stop

Daijoubu: It's okay

I also will get down on my knees to beg you to review and keep reading! Thank you for sticking with me to those of you who are reading this right now!


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